We create an individualized program
for each student and are Westlake
Chaps’ top choice for:

We create an individualized instructional program for each student
and are the Westlake Chaps’ top choice for:
 Academic Tutoring
 Study Skills Coaching
 SAT and ACT preparation
 College Admissions

WHAT THE

STEP ONE:

IS AN

Flip through this issue of The Featherduster and find a
photo marked with the Aurasma logo.

HECK

FIND THEM ON PAGES:

AURASMA?
15

35

Download the Aurasma app to your phone or iPad. Follow The Featherduster account.

STEP TWO:

STEP THREE:

Open Aurasma and align the scanner over your chosen
photo.

STEP FOUR:

Hold your device in place, turn the volume up and
watch the video over the page.

38

40

47

JANUARY

2014

28

In the Nutcracker Spectacular, junior Ellie Edwards
dances to “Pas de Deux.”

28 On her toes
Ellie Edwards furthers her dancing
career and makes plans to travel

42 Put your records on

Your hella cool guide to purchasing
vinyl in Austin

Sophomore Jack Speer explores End of an Ear, one of
Austin’s many record stores.
Nikki Humble
cover art by Justin Dorland

The Featherduster, the newsmagazine of
Westlake High School, attempts to inform and
entertain in a broad, fair and accurate manner
on subjects which concern the readers. The
publication also seeks to provide a forum
of ideas and opinions between the staff of
the newsmagazine, the faculty, the student
body and the local community about issues
presented.
All material produced and published by The
Featherduster staff is copyrighted and cannot
be reproduced without the writer’s consent or
that of the editors. Content decisions rest in the
hands of the staff, despite the Supreme Court’s
ruling in the case of Hazelwood v. Kuhlmeier.
Opinions expressed in the columns that appear

in The Featherduster do not necessarily reflect
the opinions of the entire staff, the school
administration or the adviser.
The staff encourages letters to the editor
as an avenue for expressing the opinions of
the readers. All letters must be signed to be
considered for publication. Due to space limitations, not all letters will be published, and the
editorial board reserves the right to edit them
for purposes of placement. No material will be
printed that is libelous, advocates an illegal
activity or which the editorial board deems is in
poor taste. The restriction includes letters to the
staff, advertising and anything else the board
feels presents an inappropriate message.

In addition to the core courses and widely known electives at Westlake,

there are numerous niche classes for 2014-15 which target students with specific interests.
Some of these are offered only one period per day, such as Disaster Response, American
West, Classical Mythology and Literary Magazine.

American West

Another course offered for
one period per day is American
West, taught by Chuck Nowland.
It is an English elective class
that requires English I as a
prerequisite.
Westlake began offering
this course in the spring of
1995 when Nowland transferred from Hill Country to
Westlake.

4

brains + brawn westlakefeatherduster.com

Literary Magazine
If you would prefer a class that
focuses more on computer design
and writing, join Moria Longino’s
Literary Magazine class. There is
no prerequisite and it is all about
being a member of Westlake’s
The Final Draft. Students also
learn skills
such as concept
development,
design and
layout, submission selection
and editing,
digital photography, desktop
publishing, the
printing process and get a chance
to write. Student may also serve
in editorial positions.
“[Literary Magazine] is fun
and it’s different,” junior Noah
Hanna said. “There’s no other
class like it. There are only seven
kids and you get a lot of freedom.”
oss

“I took [American West] by a
reccomendation from a friend,”
junior Whitt Barksdale said. “Mr.
Nowland is a very nice guy and
he’s on your level. Everything
feels like a group discussion.”

ela M

A group on campus that
many don’t know about is the
Community Emergency Response Team. To join this team,
students join a class called CERT:
Disaster Response. In this class,
students learn about fire safety,
medical triage, disaster psychology, search and rescue, first aid
and CPR.
“What I like most about the
class is that I can learn to be a
first responder,” freshman Ben Collie
said. “Also, it’s
fun learning
all the handson training.”
This curricular
model was adopted by the Federal Emergency Management
Agency. It is available for any
students with a passion for saving lives.

“I had just started at Westlake
after 10 years at Hill Country
Middle School, so I jumped at
the opportunity to create a class
based on one of my passions in
life: the American West and its
land, literature, art, history and
movies, the classic westerns,”
Nowland said. “I submitted a
proposal to Mr. [John] Matysek,
a previous principal. His committee recommended the course with
several others to the school board
for approval. The rest is history,
as they say.”
Throughout the one-semester
class, students learn about the
American West by concentrating
on short stories, essays and other
writing assignments, which show
students the criteria and aspects
of the West. Nowland said he
likes the autonomy of teaching
his own curriculum to students
who share his passions.
“One thing I love to do as
much as possible, that I can’t
do with my other classes, is take
field trips to actually experience
the life and art of the American
West,” Nowland said. “We’ve
been to the Southwest Writer’s
Collection at Texas
State University to
view exhibits on
writers like Cormac
McCarthy and to visit their Lonesome Dove special collection.”

Mythology
Students must take two years
of a language to graduate, but
some Latin students might want
to take Classical Mythology as an
additional enrichment elective.
“This is the first year for Mythology, and it adds some work to
my three other classes: Latin III
Pre-AP, Latin IV AP and Latin V,”
Latin teacher Alan Abbe said. “It
is nothing like my other classes.
I believe that people take this
class because they want to learn
about stories behind the names
and literary references [taught in
Latin.]”
“The reason I joined Mythology was [that] I wanted to study
the archeology unit,” junior Kyra
Abbe said, “The class is a great
learning experience and filled
with friendly faces, I recommend
taking the course.”

Micha

CERT

There are certain courses that
everyone is required to take in
order to graduate, but there remain a variety of classes that can
pique students’ interests. Next
time scheduling comes around,
flip through the course book and
consider choosing a lesser-known
class. You might be pleasantly
surprised.
―Cooper Kerbow

Locked
down

Security addresses ongoing campus safety concerns
Today, information spreads around more rapidly than ever
“Students are good at reporting things that look suspicious,” Carter
before. With the Internet, television and radio being widely available, it said. “Last year we had a former student enter campus and within
is hard not to hear about the latest event. Having an increased awareminutes we found out.”
ness allows us to hear about violent crimes much more frequently than
Due to the lower rate of criminal activity at Westlake, students have
we once did. From the Aurora movie theatre shooting to the Sandy
more freedom than other schools.
Hook shooting to the Boston Marathon
“At some schools students aren’t albombing — it seems that mass homicides
lowed outside a classroom without a hall
or terrorist attacks have become periodical
pass,” Carter said. “During lunch you can’t
events.
exit the lunch room.”
With the knowledge that at any time
This year, there are additions to
a public area is at risk of being attacked,
Westlake’s array of cameras in previous
security has become more of a concern to
blind spots and outside the Performing
schools. In the past decade, there has been
Arts Center. This has become increasingly
an increased number of security programs
important in preventing theft over the past
put into place nationwide. While most
few years with so many iPads at Westlake.
students are aware of security, its purpose
There are also two security guards, and two
and the actual risk of something happenofficers contracted from the Travis County
ing seem more nebulous.
Sheriff Department.
“I haven’t noticed any violence,” senior
“I think that having their presence proElliot Knowles said.
vides a sense of security to most students,”
According to Gayle Morris, security
sophomore Xander Benton said.
on campus is different than other places,
With many security programs, schools
in that it is at risk from internal threats.
are statistically some of the safest places.
The way that Westlake tries to prevent
During the 2008-2009 school year, only 1.1
threats may seem unrelated to security:
percent of homicides that occurred to chilby offering counseling and having a zero
dren ages 5-18 happened while at school
tolerance policy regarding bullying. With
(according to www.greatschools.org). Howthese resources available, it helps prevent
ever, incidents like last year’s supposed
troubled students from harming others or
bomb threat caused people to question
engaging in illegal activities, stopping the
whether security is an overreaction.
threat before it ever becomes one.
“I was about 90 percent sure that
External threats are also accounted for.
nothing would happen, but I wasn’t 100
Outside doors remain locked during the
percent sure,” Carter said. “I don’t see how
Nick Appling
school day, forcing traffic to go through a
[I] could live with myself if something did
Security officer Gale Morris patrols the hallways to keep the school safe. happen.”
few monitored entries. Adults who want to
enter the school have to check in using a
While it may seem too much at times,
driver’s license, which will notify security
security procedures have a necessary efif the visitor is a registered sex offender so
fect. Drills and lockdowns may be tedious,
that they are able to prevent dangerous people from entering. Howbut make students aware of the actions they should take in case of an
ever, they aren’t completely secure.
event.
“I think that the students here are good-natured,” assistant princi“I know that drills and lockdowns are annoying, but safety is impal Dianne Carter said. “To be polite they sometimes let people in.”
portant,” Carter said. “Personally when I’m conducting [a drill] I feel
Locked doors aren’t foolproof, but if someone does get in without
responsible for the safety of [all of the] students.”
checking in, it doesn’t take long for security to find out.
— Martin Celusniak

Lunch, AP tests, college applications, Homecoming, Prom and parking passes; there are a
multitude of things we pay for throughout the years as typical high school students. But just how much does
it add up to? We polled around 50 seniors in order to find out the answer to just how much the average
Westlake High School student spends annually on typical expenses like academic, athletic, extra/cocurricular, student life and memorabilia costs from the start of freshman year until graduation, and the results just
might surprise you.
—Cierra Smith

Compared to local private schools’ tuition total for high school
St. Stephen’s Episcopal School appx $99,3202 Regents School of Austin appx $58,420
Sources
1 austindrivingschool.com
whschaps.net
eanesisd.net
2
sstx.org
3
nrf.com

TOTAL:
appx $35,388-$48,648*
WITHOUT CAR: appx $14,268-$27,528

*Using the highest percentage poll answers

Adapptation

Classes continue to integrate iPads into curriculum
In 2011, Westlake distributed iPads to upperclassmen and
don’t have to guess what they might be interested in. It gives them a lot
select sophomores, and in September of 2012, all Westlake students,
of independence and creativity on their part.”
8th graders and various elementary school children received iPads
Dr. Garza’s students also use their iPads to improve auditory
funded by technology bonds.
comprehension and pronunciation by listening to Spanish podcasts at
The iPad program is supported by the Westlake Initiative for Innonight.
vation (WIFI), which the district website describes as “a program that
“In certain instances [the iPad] has improved their learning,” Dr.
focuses on bringing learning into the hands of students, enabling them
Garza said. “By being exposed to what’s going on in the Spanish-speakto guide their own learning through increased access.”
ing world right now, they see how they can use it more in the moment.
2013 marked the second year of school-wide iPad
The kids can initiate their own learning and it can be
use, and some teachers have embraced the technolvery current.”
“Teaching depends on
ogy with open arms, going almost entirely paperless
From foreign languages to math, teachers conthe angle with which you
in their classrooms.
tinue to discover new ways to use the iPads in their
come at a problem when
AP World History teacher Jason Jones said he
classrooms.
you’re explaining it to
uploads notes, videos, links, activities, PDF files and
“[The iPad] gives us another option for visualizadifferent brains, and [the
worksheets to his website and the iTunes U app,
tion, enhances the [learning] experience and just
iPad] has given us more
which his students then download to their iPads,
gives us another set of ways to explain things,” math
options in the area of
enabling them to store everything they need for the
teacher Peggy Katterjohn said. “Teaching depends
multiple representations
class in one place.
on the angle with which you come at a problem when
of a problem.”
“I love the ability to load material to iTunes U,”
you’re explaining it to different brains, and [the iPad]
Jones said. “It has greatly decreased my time in the
has given us more options in the area of multiple
—Peggy Katterjohn
copy room and the stacks of papers on my desk. I
representations of a problem. Every time I find a new
prefer to teach with the iPad. It’s a powerful thing for
app [that we can use] it confirms, that yes, this is a
every student to have access to the Internet during class.”
good thing.”
Aside from making it easier to obtain materials, the iPads have
Some of the most popular aspects of the iPads are their light weight
created opportunities for learning as teachers continue to find ways to
and small size, which make them easily portable and enable users to
use the new tool to supplement and improve upon their old curricustore information that would otherwise be held in several heavy books.
lums. Spanish teacher Dr. Gloria Garza, for example, has her students
“It’s a virtual textbook without the weight, and I think that’s
find articles on Spanish-language news websites, summarize them and
fabulous,” Katterjohn said. “If that’s all the iPad does for us in class,
present them to the class.
hold our big math and science textbooks, I think that it’s worth it right
“I used to subscribe to several Spanish newspapers, but now that I
there.”
have the iPad I don’t have to,” Dr. Garza said. “I would cut [the newsThe portability and vast memory space of the iPads mean that, in
papers] up and give each student an article, and tell them to read it and theory, students don’t have to carry multiple bulky books and folders
do the activity. But now I don’t have to go through all that trouble; I
with them if they want to do some work.

Students estimate how many of their
classes use the iPads 3+ days a week

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8

brains + brawn westlakefeatherduster.com

= 1 student

Photo manipulation by Tim Whaling

“You can carry [the iPad] around and you can use it anywhere,”
Some students are under the impression that their teachers hate
junior Anna Spell said. “Plus, the iPad has everything you need on it.”
iPads because they are often being told to put them away. However,
Using applications such as eBackpack, DocAS, Pages and iTunes U,
the teachers themselves express a different viewpoint.
students can download, complete and turn in work without ever once
“Used appropriately and on task, not playing games or checking
touching a sheet of paper or turning the pages of a book.
mail, [the iPad] is a great tool … I don’t mind if they play games, just
“The iPad has made it easier to learn, very much so, because I can
not during class,” Katterjohn said. “I don’t want to be in the position of
keep all of my work in one place,” senior Katya Sheridan said. “And
policing them. That’s not what I’m paid for and that’s not what I want
since I’m applying to colleges it helps get applications done, talk to
to do.”
people and send in essays. The iPad just makes everything easier.”
Like Katterjohn, Dr. Garza considers the iPad to be a valuable asset
Despite the benefits of a more digital curriculum,
and she shares the opinion that with great power
some teachers still struggle to incorporate the techcomes great responsibility.
nology seamlessly into their classrooms, and students
“The kids need to be instilled with the idea that
“The iPad has made it
randomly surveyed report that, on average, only four
this is not a toy at the moment in class,” Dr. Garza
easier to learn, very much
of their classes use the iPads regularly (three or more
said. “They can play their video games at home, but
so, because I can keep all
days a week). According to junior Susannah Crowell,
there’s a specific purpose for in-class iPad use.”
of my work in one place...
the dream of going paperless is still a long way off,
After two years of school-wide iPad operation,
The iPad just makes everyand her backpack feels as heavy with papers as ever.
most teachers and students are still only using a frac“We’re about 30 percent there,” Susannah said.
tion of the iPad’s potential, and it remains to be seen
thing easier.”
The biggest drawback of the iPads in terms of
whether or not Westlake will ever abandon paper
—Katya Sheridan
academics is the multitude of distractions that they
entirely.
so readily supply, say teachers and students. Video
“I believe that we could be using them way more
games, websites, movies, email, iMessage and more
in class,” sophomore Laura Jessich said. “Teachers
can be accessed with a touch of a finger, providing
are reluctant to use iPads because kids can so easily
countless opportunities to get off task.
get off task. I like the way they are incorporated in class.”
“The only really negative thing I see about the iPads is that they
As with any other device, the iPad’s usefulness depends upon the
can be a distraction,” Dr. Garza said. “They can be distracting to the
responsibility of its operators.
younger kids, mostly Spanish 1, when they should be involved in class
“Change is hard, especially as you get older,” Dr. Garza said. “You
but they’re playing games or looking at football scores.”
have to put aside your initial judgements and take things for a test
She said that distraction was less of a problem in the upper levels,
drive. Used appropriately, the iPad is a fantastic tool”
citing the sheer amount of work as the reason.
—Georgina Kuhlmann

Hitting the right
A

whistle blows, and the 241 band members run to their
positions. When they have gotten into their rows, band director Kerry Taylor tells the students over the loudspeaker about
the game that night, how they won’t need to practice too
much because he thinks they all know the songs pretty well and how
it’s going to be colder at the game in Waco than it is on the field right
now. Everyone yells and shrieks in excitement before going to attention and playing. The sound seems warm and inviting, a stark contrast
to the freezing cold weather. They play “Land of a Thousand Dances,”
followed by three rounds of “YMCA” and finish up with “Hey Baby.”
On “Hey Baby,” many students dance and some yell. It’s an odd sight
on this dreary morning at 7:30, but nobody’s spirits appear to be dampened by
the weather. After “Hey Baby,” practice
is over, all of the band members go back
inside, chatting and huddling together for
warmth. And this was apparently an easy
day for the band during marching season.
Even though many students outside of
band view it as cult-like, band members
see themselves as more of a family. They
may not be a religion exactly, but band is
partially student-led, has created some of
its own traditions and is a unit within the
school. They spend long hours before and after school together, which
gives them ample time to bond.
“The average [marching] day starts very early for me, being a drum
major, [because I get] here early enough to set up for rehearsal,” said
senior Travis Norris, one of the four drum majors. “So I get to the band
hall around 6:30 or 6:45, set up whatever is needed on the field [and]
go through all the rehearsal. [There’s] lots of repetition on things we
need to work on, sometimes individual instruction, sometimes group
instruction … and then [I] go to school. On a normal day, I’ll end up
spending half an hour after school just hanging out in the band hall.
On Tuesdays, we have more rehearsal [after school], and that’s out on
the grass field. Everyone kind of dreads them, but they end up being
pretty fun.”

During marching season, drum majors direct the band members’
marching, meet weekly with the band directors to discuss the show’s
progress and arrive at practice early and stay late to set and clean up.
“One of my favorite things about band is the enormous opportunity
for student leadership,” said junior Ananya Zachariah, another of the
four drum majors. “You get to contribute substantially to the band,
and it enables you to grow in character. There are two categories of
student leaders in band — officers and instructional leaders. Instructional leaders consist of section leaders and sergeants, whose work lies
entirely on the marching field. Drum majors count as both officers and
instructional leaders. Drum major is the highest student leadership
position in band, and therefore has
the highest amount of responsibility.
When you watch the marching band
perform you probably don’t really
notice us because we are the ones
conducting. Drum majors have a ton
of responsibility and it can be a lot of
pressure, but it’s also so much fun.”
Even though a day during marching season is strenuous, especially
for those higher up on the chain of
command, it lasts for only about four
months, ending when the football
team finishes its season. The schedule for a band student, along with
the environment of the band hall, is more relaxed now that concert
band season has started and early morning practices are over.
“There will still be people who get here ridiculously early to practice
or something, but it’s not the full group,” Travis said. “If you walk
into the band hall on a marching [season] day, you’ll see nobody there
in the morning. If you walk in on a concert [season] day, you’ll see
everyone around, chatting and hanging out or doing homework. For
rehearsal in the actual classroom during marching band season we
stand in a box around the edge of the room, and during concert season
we sit in our traditional band arcs.”
Filled with early mornings and frequent practices, the life of a band
member isn’t easy. However, there must be some reason why so many

“When you’re a freshman it’s really
nerve-wracking, because you don’t
know what you’re going to go through
... But everyone else has gone
through it already so [the culture of
band is] supportive.”
—freshman Kelsey Richardson

10

brains + brawn westlakefeatherduster.com

Ben Wallace and Jack Stenglein

note

Band members bond through
shared marching experiences

people sign up and stick with it for four years.
“I like the sense of family it provides,” band president senior Soto
Dedes said, “and I like walking in here after school and seeing a bunch
of people I know standing around and talking to each other.”
However, this friendly feeling of the organization does not extend
through all of the band’s activities. Inevitably, some things will frustrate even the most dedicated.
“Some people don’t like Tuesday afternoon rehearsals,” Travis said.
“Some people don’t like pass-offs. [Those are where] we have to memorize our music and play it for a student leader or a director. People who
aren’t very good at memorizing their music are really afraid to do that.”
But even if they’re exasperated with band, and sometimes not even
friends with one another, the band members still support each other.
“Even if there’s someone in band [whom] I dislike, if I hear someone outside of band dissing them, I’ll be like, ‘Hey, back off. You don’t
know them,’” Colorguard section leader senior Mia Cavazos said.
Because they worked together during the first four months of
school, the drum majors bonded into a close-knit group.
“I had to work with the other drum majors so closely and for so
long, that we all became friends, even though in the beginning I didn’t
really know [senior] Lincoln [Valdez], Travis or [senior] Mike [Bartmess],” Ananya said. “We all support each other, are there for each
other and developed a really great friendship. I’m so grateful for the
experience I had this year. Being a drum major helped me become
1000 times more confident in myself, and I feel like I’ve really changed
for the better.”
Often times, younger or newer members of an organization are
looked down upon, but in band, freshmen are welcomed and aided.
“When you’re a freshman it’s really nerve-wracking, because you
don’t know what you’re going to go through, how hard it’s going to be
and how you’re going to get through your classes,” freshman Kelsey
Richardson said. “But everyone else has gone through it already so [the
culture of band is] supportive. It sounds pretty cheesy, but everyone
[helps] each other along.”
With this sense of companionship, as with other types of family
dynamics, different traditions have arisen.
“Traditions at parties usually include sock wrestling, [which is
where two people each wear one sock and try to pull the other person’s
sock off,] and at competitions there’s a pep talk that each section does
before we go on,” Travis said. “We have a few minutes to talk with
our section and get psyched up. It really gets the younger kids excited
for what’s about to happen. The week before our main competition
we have what’s called Intensity Week. We decorate the band hall; we
dress up. It’s our last week of rehearsal; it’s our final push to the end.
And that’s actually where our band improves a lot and surpasses other
bands, because we have that drive to succeed.”
This year, the band placed sixth at the Bands of America Austin Regional competition, received top marks at UIL Regionals, won second
place at the Vista Ridge Marching Festival and came out 13th out of
64 bands at the Bands of America Super Regional in San Antonio. The
hard work put in to achieve those things, the traditions and the supportive feel of band leads them to be almost a subculture in the school.
“The best part of being in band is the sense of community I get
from it,” Travis said. “There’s no other organization in the school
where there are so many kids all committed to one thing. And that
level of commitment usually brings really fun people. Some of my best
friends are in band, people I’ve known for years. It’s cool to perform
with them, to spend time with them, and to succeed with them. In my
experience, band has been a big group of friends who enjoy hanging
out and [playing] music.”
—Madeline Dupre

Band Instructional
Leadership Team
Head Director
Kerry Taylor

Assistant Directors

John Parsons, Bryn Speer, Peter Zaffos

Head and Assistant Drum Majors

High
Woodwinds

Sergeants

Low
Woodwinds

High
Brass

Flutes
Clarinets

Alto Sax
Tenor/Bari Sax
Bass Clarinet

Trumpets
Mellophones

Low
Brass

Center
Snare

Guard
Captain

Trombones
Baritones
Tubas

Tenors
Bass Drums
Front Ensemble

Weapons
Flags

The hierarchy, explained
Sergeants supervise the groups of sections like high woodwinds and low brass,
and set the playing and marching standards for each group of sections. In each
of these sections, there is a section leader who leads playing and marching
sectionals throughout August band camp. Section leaders, sergeants and drum
majors also play a major role in June freshman band camp, when incoming band
members learn the basics of marching and are welcomed into the band family.
There are also elected student officers: the president, vice president, treasurer,
rep-at-large, quartermaster, freshman rep, historian, librarian, percussion
captain, guard captain and jazz rep. These students make announcements, take
attendance, print and distribute music, conduct service projects and organize
band parties.
—Andy Brown

advertisement

Pinning
down

photos by Shelby Westbrook

victory

Far left photo: Wrestling coach Pat O’Harra shouts
words of encouragement to his wrestlers while
competing against the Bowie Bulldawgs Dec. 4.
Far right photo: Junior Robert Noelke attempts to
stand up while wrestling against Bowie High School.
Top photo: In a meet in early December, senior Jay
Garza performs the craddle while competing against
Bowie.
Bottom photo: Captain senior Ryan Elswick begins
his match. “My hopes are to win District, Regionals,
become second four-time state qualifier in school
history and hopefully place in state,” Ryan said.

Wrestling team dominates competition, looks to school for continued support
The evening sky may be dark outside, and the rest of the
students may be warm and cozy at home, but inside the ninth grade
cafeteria the lights are on and the scene is hectic. One half of the
Westlake wrestling team practices one-on-one scrimmages near the
windows of the cafeteria while the other half does push-ups and high
jumps, waiting for their turn to challenge their friends and take them
to the ground. The practice will continue until 5:45, and for another
15 minutes after that the entire team will pick up the practice mats
and collect their gear before going home. This is the daily grind of the
wrestling team, one of Westlake’s athletic programs that some might
say flies under the radar. As it happens, it is also one of the most successful.
“We train to win,” senior captain Robbie Boyd said. “It’s fun to
hang out with the guys and win tournaments, but really, we’re here to
train as winners. Everything else is just a bonus.”
The varsity wrestling team has enjoyed enormous success this
year, thus far winning three tournaments. Freshman Jack Skudlarczyk
and junior Alex Pankhurst were champions at the 23-team Capital
City Classic, where Westlake finished with 164 points, more than 30
points ahead of second place Leander Rouse. At the 16-team Churchill
Charger Classic Tournament in San Antonio, Alex and Jack once again
won the title of champion, this time sharing it with teammates junior
Kevin Zarzana and senior Hunter Roberts. At the especially prestigious
32-team Russ Pederson Invitational Tournament in San Antonio, Jack
once again shared the title of champion, this time with juniors Hugo
Giordano and Gabe Duran.
“It makes practicing a lot easier when you go to tournaments and
win the way we do,” senior Drake Boisvert said. “We train to be the
best, and it sure seems like it’s working.”
The team will have three more tournaments before competing for
Region, but at least for the moment, they seem ready to win it. They
have done better than any Austin area school in the tournaments they
have already attended, and are even challenging a few Houston and
Dallas teams for most tournament titles during the year.
“We’re good this year,” Gabe said. “We’re training a little harder
and working a little better, and we’re gonna be the best. I’d say we’re
working harder this year than any year before.”
The team had a successful season last year, finishing fourth in Region, but the team members said they believe they can do even better.
“We’re looking to be champions in the District this year,” Hugo
said. “We are working really well together, better than any other year.

Across all the weight classes, we are all working just as hard as the guy
next to us, and that just builds on itself so that everyone is responsible
for everyone else maximizing what they get out of practice.”
The team hopes that with its obvious success, it may get some of the
attention that is due to it from the school.
“I’m actually not sure most people here even know how wrestling
works, or know the rules and stuff,” Robbie said. “It’d be good to get
some support from people when we’re working so hard and doing so
well.”
The argument that has circled every extracurricular in the school
has indeed found the wrestling team: every program that competes
should get equal support from the school. It’s hard to ignore that the
wrestling team has an especially disproportionate lack of support given
their success.
“We’re not expecting ‘Wrestling Girls’ or posters, just a little more
funding from the school, even a little bit,” Gabe said. “And yeah, it’d be
nice to see some familiar faces at the matches.”
When asked what things theoretical extra school funding might
go toward, seven members of the varsity team being interviewed all
immediately (and enthusiastically) replied “Wrestling room!” without
a second thought. The team has trained in the ninth grade cafeteria
for years now, and because they are such a low priority for the school,
other teams that need gym facilities to practice their sport prevent the
wrestling team from using the gyms. As they practice during eighth
period and after school, wrestling has no choice but the cafeteria.
“It gets annoying to deal with completely erasing [the fact that] we
were here,” Hugo said. “We roll out the mats, work, and make sure it’s
all spotless. It takes some time. If we had a wrestling room or just a
place that is made for what we do, that would be awesome.”
The wrestlers will wrap up their regular season Jan. 26 at the Delco
Center at their District tournament, where they will likely be heavy
favorites. They say they believe they have exactly what it takes to send
several to Region and beyond.
“We’re not a huge team,” Jack said. “We can’t just fall on guys and
pin them down. We’re fast, though. And we have to be smart, which so
far we have been.”
Coach Patrick O’Harra shares the team’s enthusiasm.
“They work insanely hard all week,” O’Harra said. “We don’t put
them through easy stuff. It’s paying off, though, because winning is a
whole lot of fun, and we are doing a lot of winning.”
—Brian Wieckowski

Junior Isaac Reichle runs down the court
at the varsity basketball game Dec. 3
against San Marcos. The Chaps came
out on top with a score of 67-64.

Posting
up
Alyssa Thomas

Boys basketball team struggles in preseason, starts District play
The boys basketball team started
District play the same way it started its
season — in a hole. A 77-79 loss to Del Valle
on Dec. 20 and a 54-65 loss to Lake Travis on
New Year’s Eve set the Chaps’ District record
at 0-2, and put them at the bottom of the
District standings. However, a 72-62 victory
over perennial power Anderson Jan. 7 and a
70-57 win over rival Austin High Jan. 10 lifted
its record to an even 2-2 in District and 11-13
overall.
“[The Austin game] is the game you look
forward to playing as a basketball player,”
forward senior Patrick Elliot said. “It’s such a
big rivalry, and it was huge for us to come out
on top.”
Westlake started the season 2-7, and for
most teams, that would have been a bad sign,
a seemingly insurmountable early deficit that
would be hard for them to overcome. But
for the Chaps basketball team, it was understandable. They’d played some of the hardest
teams in the state, and hung tough with all of
them, even knocking off then second-ranked
Converse Judson. For Coach Tres Ellis, the
early-season trials would only make his team
better.
“The losses were tough to take because our
record took a hit,” Ellis said. “But ultimately,
the games got us ready for later in the year
during District play. We know that nobody in
District is going to be better than any team

14

brains + brawn westlakefeatherduster.com

we’ve seen. It’ll give us confdence going in
to know that we can play with or even beat
anybody.”
The team started out preseason with a 7867 win over New Braunfels, then dropped a
close game to San Antonio Clark before heading to the Houston metroplex to play in the
McDonald’s Texas Invitational Tournament.
There, the team played some of the best teams
from around Texas, including top ranked
Desoto, Spring Dekaney, North Crowley, and
the aforementioned Judson Rockets.
“That’s why we go down to Houston,” Ellis
said. “[We want to] play teams like that. We
hung close in every one of those games.”
The Chaps came out of Houston with a 1-3
record and traveled to the Dallas area to play
Duncanville, one of the traditional powers in
the DFW area. They played well, but ended up
losing by 6.
“We led the whole way,” Ellis said. “We
just lost it at the very end.”
They came back to Austin to close out the
remainder of their non-District slate, going
2-3 in their next four games. However, the
three losses came by a combined 15 points.
“I think losing any game, especially a close
one, leaves you with a hunger to improve,”
forward senior Dallen Nelson said. “It makes
you [less likely] to be beaten again. After a
loss, we are sharper in practice and ultimately
better in games.”

The team was bolstered by the addition
of several football players, including seniors
Jordan Severt, Patrick Elliot and Ben Slaughter, who were unable to play at the beginning
of the season due to ongoing football conflicts.
They added depth and intensity to the team.
“Adding those guys lets us go deeper
on our bench,” Ellis said. “They bring that
football attitude which is eye opening to some
of our other players, who see that there’s
another level that we can play at.”
The Chaps traveled to New Braunfels to
play in the River City Classic on the weekend
of Dec. 13. Sparked by the new additions to
their squad, the team went 3-1, its only loss
coming by 2 points to a tough Frenship team.
Over winter break, the Chaps hosted their
annual tournament, The Westlake Holiday
Classic. They finished with a 2-2 record
playing on their home court, with wins over
A&M Consolidated and St. Stephens, and
losses to the Triple A Academy and Harker
Heights.
Despite the slow start, coaches are confident that the team’s early trials will benefit
them going forward.
“Our District across the board is really
level,” Ellis said. “Anybody can beat anybody
on any given night. It’s pretty wide open, but I
fully expect, based on what I’ve seen, that we
will compete for one of the top spots.”
—Jacob Prothro

Surprising
the
competition
Majority sophomore team holds its own throughout first round of District games

photos by Nick Appling and Aurasma by Cooper Kerbow

In the 66-58 win over Austin High Jan. 10, sophomore Carly Turner fights
through the Maroons’ defense to score a basket.

T

Sophomore Brooke Holle shoots a three-pointer against Austin High. “Beating Austin helped
to boost our confidence after coming off of a loss from Anderson,” Brooke said.

he girls of the varsity basketball team found
themselves in an interesting position this season with eight
out of 13 members being sophomores. After a difficult preseason, the girls are moving through District play, including
a 66-58 win against rival Austin High Jan. 10 in the first
round of play. The team has a current record of 4-2 and an overall
record of 12-12.
“It’s fun playing with a team with a lot of sophomores because I
feel like teams underestimate us and then are surprised by our talent,”
post sophomore Emily Thurston said.
Throughout pre-season, the girls played physical teams to prepare
for District games. The team played in the Colleyville tournament
before District season started and came away with one win and two
losses. The following tournament at Marble Falls resulted in three
wins and one loss.
“[The sophomores] really want to learn and really love the game,”
post senior Shelby Westbrook said. “They have a lot of heart. I’ve seen
night and day improvements. We still have a long way to go, but from
where we are now, you wouldn’t even think we are the same team [as
before].”
Shelby is the only senior on the varsity team, along with four juniors. The starting line-up consists entirely of sophomores.
“Most of the time I don’t even realize [that I am the only senior],”
Shelby said. “I don’t like acting like I have more power than everyone,
because that doesn’t get the team anywhere. On the other hand, I do

At the home game against the Maroons, sophomore Lexi
Cunningham passes the ball in to her Varsity teammates.

want to help be a role model as an older and more experienced player.”
Throughout the season, there have been both advantages and disadvantages of having such a young team.
“As a team we have a lack of experience and not a lot of older
leadership,” point guard sophomore Bailey Holle said. “In the next few
years I think our team will be really good because we will have really
good team chemistry.”
Under the leadership of new coach Katie Hensle, the team came
away with many victories this season, including a 54-43 win against
rival Lake Travis in the first round of District. Hensle has more than a
decade of high school coaching experience, having coached at schools
such as John Paul II High School in Plano and McKinney High School.
Additionally, she was an assistant coach at Texas Tech in 2012.
“She has flipped the program around 180 degrees,” Shelby said.
“She is more strict and she expects a lot out of us and it is making us
much better than we were last year.”
Although there have been difficulties, the girls have been able to
overcome these obstacles. The sophomores have high hopes for the
future of the program.
“[This season] has made me mentally tough and I am learning a lot through my experiences on the team,” guard sophomore
Brooke Holle said. “ The good thing is, when we are all seniors we will
have been playing together for a long time and we will have a great
team.”
—Margaret Norman

Tricks
of the

trade
Westlake athletes
showcase their talents,
experiences as high
school players

BRITTANY PEARSON

HANNAH TUCKER

Sport: Cheerleading
Grade: Senior
Years on varsity: 2
Height: 5’2’’
Years playing sport: 7
Spirit animal: Wolf
Team/individual accomplishments: Second place in
Nationals in 2012, National champions 2013
How sport has changed life: “I have grown much
stronger as a cheerleader and a person because of
Westlake cheer. One of my goals was to win nationals
and we did with our red team. Becoming best friends
with all of my teammates was the best
accomplishment I
could have ever made”
Favorite thing about sport:
“You can always improve.
There isn’t a certain skill that
is the highest. You can always
go beyond and create new
skills, it’s never ending. Also,
cheerleading creates such
strong bonds with teammates.
You become a family.”
Future plans: “I hope to cheer
at a D1 university either at TCU,
Texas Tech or Clemson.”

Sport: Lacrosse
Grade: Junior
Years on varsity: 2
Height: 5’5’’
Position: A-Wing
Years playing sport: 5
Spirit animal: Bald eagle
Team/individual accomplishments: Team placed
fourth last year, freshman year recieved most valuable midfielder award
Favorite thing about sport: “The feeling I get when I
score a goal or being able to wear Adrenaline socks.”
Memorable moments: “I will never forget the time I
got my first yellow card. I
was shooting and the
goalie stepped out
towards me and I got
called for dangerous
follow through.”

Chuck Nowland

CAROLINE FRYE
Sport: Golf
Grade: Junior
Years on varsity: 1
Height: 5’4’’
Years playing sport: 4
Spirit animal: Wolf
Team/individual accomplishments: Shot a hole in
one over the summer
Favorite thing about sport: “I love my teammates
and golf teaches you commitment and patience.”
Memorable moment when playing
sport: “We had a whole day of practice where my
practice team
and I hit like
Happy Gilmore
every shot. It was
hilarious.”
Future Plans: Play for
the rest of high school
and then as a hobby
afterwards

16

brains + brawn westlakefeatherduster.com

Tim Whaling

Lucy Wimmer

Tim Whaling

Cade Ritter

ROBERT NOELKE
Sport: Wrestling
Grade: Junior
Years on varsity: 2
Height: 6’1’’
Years playing sport: 5
Spirit animal: Bear
Team/individual accomplishments: District champions past two years. “We plan to win the Regional
champioship this year.”
Favorite thing about sport: “The singlets. But seriously, the team comaraderie is unlike any other.”
Memorable moment: “The matches where I was
losing and then pinned my opponent in the last few
seconds.”

RYAN MCKAY
Sport: Basketball
Grade: Senior
Years on varsity: 2
Height: 6’2’’
Years playing sport: 12
Spirit animal: Michael Jordan
Team/individual accomplishments: Beat the number
two team in the state this season, undefeated (JV)
District champions sophomore year
Favorite thing about the sport: Competing
Memorable moment when playing
sport: “I remember how important it
was for our (JV) team to be undefeated,
and we really wanted to win. I was so
happy that all of our work had finally
paid of and we were undefeated district champs.”

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LIVING with

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people + places

Type 1 diabetics share their stories

hen you’re a kid, your biggest worry
should be what you want to play at recess
or when your favorite cartoon is going to
be on TV. It shouldn’t be worrying about
whether your blood sugar is at a constant
and normal level at all times or learning
how to give yourself shots multiple times
a day. Unfortunately, this is the reality
of many type 1 diabetics’ childhoods and
lives, and a reality that a small group of students at Westlake have to
face.
Sophomore Zoe Cook was just about to finish fifth grade. She wasn’t
feeling like herself — drinking large amounts of water, having to make
frequent trips to the bathroom and sleeping excessively. Zoe’s mom
is also a type 1 diabetic and noticed that Zoe was having some of the
same symptoms she experiences when her blood sugar is high. They
went to the hospital on April 14, 2009, and Zoe was officially diagnosed with type 1 diabetes.
“I remember when the doctor told me for the first time — I cried,”
Zoe said. “Then I realized that, even though it’s kind of a corny thing to
say, I had to use it for the best.”
Type 1 diabetes, also known as juvenile diabetes, is an autoimmune disease where the body attacks insulin-producing cells in the
pancreas. Insulin is a hormone that uses, stores and processes glucose
from foods. It’s an early-onset disease that has no current prevention
or cure.
Zoe was thrown into a world of constant needles, shots and monitoring. However, she found it simpler to adapt than she originally
thought.
“It was easier for me since my mom had always taken shots since I
was born,” Zoe said. “So I was kind of used to people injecting themselves. It’s a weird thing to say, but it was a norm for me. My mom just
helped show me the ropes.”

80
Approximately

diabetes

From the start, Zoe has always been an advocate for finding a cure.
She began working with the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation
to raise money and promote awareness, including organizing her own
fundraising walk for JDRF in middle school.
“This year I’m focusing my attention on helping build a new center
as a part of the Dell Children’s Medical Center for my endocrinologist,”
Zoe said. “Diabetes is so rapidly expanding, and they’re definitely in
need of a bigger office.”
Right now, Zoe has a constant glucose monitor that alerts her parents in the night when her blood sugar levels aren’t normal. She and
her family are beginning the two-year process of training one of their
dogs to be a diabetic alert dog so that she won’t have to rely on her
parents at night.
“We’re training her to wake me up in the night if my blood sugar
does go high or low,” Zoe said. “It works by scent. Dogs can pick up
scents when your blood sugar goes too high or low that humans can’t
smell. To train my dog I swab the inside of my mouth when my blood
sugar is high or low, and then I freeze the sample and train her to alert
to the specific scent sample. It’s pretty cool.”
Being diagnosed with a disease like diabetes is life-changing at
any age, but even more so if you’re only 6 years old. However, it was a
shock for junior Carly Sadowski’s parents more than it was for her.
“At the time, I thought it was a temporary thing, so I thought I
wouldn’t have to learn about it and that my parents would just deal
with it,” Carly said. “Later, I realized that it wouldn’t ever go away.
When you’re 6, you can’t grasp the concept of this huge disease, but
as I got older, I learned more about it. I actually learned to do my own
shots a few months after I was diagnosed.”
Since she was diagnosed so young, the lifestyle changes weren’t too
big for Carly.
“I grew up with it, so I didn’t know anything else,” Carly said. “It
definitely made me more responsible, since I have to take care of my
own life every day. The biggest thing was just not letting it get to me,

people
per day

are diagnosed with type 1 diabetes in the U.S.
courtesy photo

18

Junior Carly Sadowski (back row, second from the left) stands with friends at a Juvenile Diabetes Research
Foundation walk in Dallas. “I’ve been attending [this walk] for years,” Carly said. “Thousands of people join
together to walk in hopes to raise money towards finding a cure.”
people + places westlakefeatherduster.com

because I know a lot of diabetic people that have depression or anxiety
because it’s such a huge part of your life. It can get to you sometimes,
but you just have to take it as a blessing. It’s a part of me.”
Both girls have found that having type 1 diabetes comes with many
false impressions about the disease and confusion between the two
types of diabetes.
“One of the biggest misunderstandings that I find from people is
that we can’t eat certain foods,” Zoe said. “A lot of people say we can’t
have cake or we can’t have ice cream, we can’t have this or that, but we
can — it’s doable. I mean, it’s always best to avoid it because it does
make our lives difficult, but we can do it. High sugar foods are an issue
because they spike your blood sugar resulting in a quick, major high
and then crashing low. It doesn’t stop us from doing things, it just
changes the way we do things.”
Type 2 diabetes occurs when the pancreas doesn’t produce enough
insulin, or when the body doesn’t respond to the insulin that is produced. It is found most often in adults, with obesity being the highest
risk factor.
“People think we can’t have sugar,” Carly said. “They don’t know
the difference between type 1 and type 2. People come up to me sometimes and say ‘Oh, you’re diabetic? But that’s for fat people!’ Some
people even thought that my insulin pump was a pager.”
Although some people may think that controlling type 1 diabetes is
very routine and straightforward, Zoe has recognized that more often
than not it is on a situation-to-situation basis. Though she can pre-plan
and guess how she will be affected based on what she eats, it’s always
a variable of how much insulin she has to take or how her body will
respond to different things.
“It’s almost as if it has a mind of its own and I have to figure out
how it works,” Zoe said. “I’ve had type 1 diabetes for four and half
years, and I’m still adjusting to the diagnosis. My treatment regimes
constantly change. There’s days where you can take twice the insulin
you’re supposed to and nothing happens. There’s not a lot you can do
when that happens. You can go on a medication that makes you more
sensitive, but it’s not a very pleasant medication to be on. I’ve ended
up in tears some days where it’s just so frustrating. It’s taught me that
you have to do what you can, and if it’s not working, you just have to
let it be. That’s been hard for me because I always want to know the
answer, but I can’t, and I won’t ever know the answer. Diabetes is
different because you’re never going to beat it. It’s for life and there’s
no cure. A lot of people think that insulin pumps and shots are cures,
but really they’re just lifelines. One of the difficult things is that with a
lot of other conditions you’re fighting to beat that condition, but with
diabetes you’re trying to get it to not beat you. You’re never going to
overcome it. That’s the hardest aspect.”
However, there is hope for the future. With type 1 diabetes diagnoses beginning to increase so rapidly, recent research is progressing
just as quickly. The cause of the disease has always been unknown, but
genetic links have been suspected. New studies are showing that it may
be spurred on by a specific virus, and vaccines could be implemented
in the near future.
“Thinking about the future can be pretty scary, because people
with diabetes don’t tend to live as long as healthy people,” Carly said.
“When you get older, there can be complications with literally every
part of your body, but it’s hopeful that there’s going to be a cure or
something to help more in the future. I have already developed some
of those complications, like nerve damage, but whatever happens, happens. It can only get better.”
Carly and Zoe have realized that despite the hardships caused by
the condition, there are important lessons they have learned that they
may not have otherwise.
“It definitely gives you more of a perspective,” Carly said. “Because
I wake up every morning and I stick needles in my arm, it makes the
math test I have today not look that bad. It makes things seem less
horrible. It gives you the feeling that you can get through anything.”
“A lot of people think it’s such a horrible thing to deal with, and it’s
not easy,” Zoe said. “It’s very challenging, but you can find the best in
every situation. Having it has always helped me eat healthier and be a
healthier person, and in a way it’s actually kind of a hidden gift.”
—Rachel Cooper

Type 1 (Juvenile diabetes):
• The pancreas stops producing insulin, and it must
be supplemented via shots or insulin pumps.
Type 1 strikes most often in children. Causes are
unknown but can be linked to genetics or viruses.
Type 2 (Adult-onset diabetes):
• The pancreas either does not produce enough
insulin for the body to function, or the body will ignore and not react to the insulin produced. While
genetics can play a role, obesity is the strongest
risk factor in this type and affects mainly adults.
Know the symptoms:
• Extreme thirst
• Frequent urination
• Drowsiness or lethargy
• Increased appetite
• Sudden weight loss
• Sudden vision changes
• Sugar in the urine
• Fruity odor on the breath
• Heavy or labored breathing
• Stupor or unconsciousness
Information from jdrf.org

Ham it up

Local restaurant continues
to be student favorite

A few minutes away from the campus of Westlake High
mented just as we’ve grown, and the necessity for that stuff has grown,
School, there is a small restaurant — that sells ham. Westlake students
too. The whole feel of the store and the kind of idea and personality
fill the compact eating area and chat with each other and the workhas been the same, and it obviously varies with employees as we lose
ers that they know so well. This place is Texas Honey Ham Company.
some and gain some. I’ve known most of the kids from Honey Ham
THHC is an interesting anomaly. One wouldn’t expect a ham place
since I was 8.”
to be such a popular restaurant as well. But somehow, the tacos and
Its popularity has skyrocketed since its opening in 2004.
sandwiches are just too good to pass up. Cups full of sweet tea with the
“We went from one customer a day to a thousand customers a day,”
simple green logo on the side fill Westlake trash cans and matching
Siller said.
to-go bags litter cars throughout the senior lot.
Honey Ham is also connected to Westlake by
This kind of dedication to a restaurant is unprecthe staff who are young, friendly and easily relatedented by any love for greasy fried food chains or
able. Many of the staff are currently enrolled in
the common cafe. Honey Ham is truly a Westlake
college and have inevitably friendly relationships
tradition.
with the students, creating a playful vibe — anoth“We’ve always had a huge high school clientele
er reason why students are so drawn to the store.
base, but it started out as business people that
It’s no surprise high school students often consider
were around here,” Honey Ham manager Andrew
Honey Ham a job option, if they are hiring.
Davis said. “We’ve gotten more business people
“We haven’t hired high school students for
and just continued to get more from high school
the past year and a half, but we used to have high
students. In the last couple years, we’ve started
school students come in the afternoon and work,
getting a lot of people coming over from UT.”
mostly as cashiers,” Davis said. “We really kind of
Every morning — especially on late start
Cade Ritter hire anyone as long as they fit.”
days — Westlake students are packed in the store’s
THHC continues to be a Westlake custom and
Honey Ham’s staple product, the breakfast taco, led it always will be, although Austin may be seeing a
dining room and front register area with hungry
to local fame. Here, a bacon, egg and cheese taco sits few more stores around town in the next few years.
stomachs, longing for the store’s famous breakfast
on their characteristic green plastic tray.
tacos, brewed-in-store tea and their popular, cold
“We’re going to stick with [the Westlake locaspheres from heaven: the ice.
tion] for now,” Siller said. “We’re really busy and
“Originally the store opened up at 10 a.m. and
it’s kind of hard to plan another restaurant when
it was open for lunch, but then [the owners] wanted to do breakfast,
we can barely keep up with this one. In the future, maybe in a year or
and so they decided to do breakfast tacos and rolls and all those kinds
two, we’ll start talking about something different.”
of things,” Davis said. “Originally they stopped serving tacos at 11 a.m.
— Alexis Huynh and ZZ Lundburg
and cut them off, but then the demand was so high in the afternoon,
they just decided to do them all day. I guess breakfast tacos are a big
Texas thing and we do them right.”
Students stop by for lunch and even hang out after school until
closing time at 6 p.m. It’s a restaurant by day, and a hang out location
by afternoon.
“The location is probably a big part [of why students hang out here]
and then also the staff,” Davis said. “We have good, fun people. Pretty
people, too, if that helps.”
The staff is very social and can connect with customers close to
their age groups.
“I go there every day with my friends to hang out and eat,” junior
Olivia Kyle said. “The food is really good — I always get the mac and
cheese. [THHC] just gives off a cool vibe and they have awesome staff.
I’m friends with all of them.”
Rob Siller, one of the owners of THHC has seen the business grow
from day one.
“The customer service really brings all the people and we have
Andrew — everybody loves Andrew,” Siller said. “He’s a super nice guy
and good with the people. The customer service just brings them back
in — they want to come back and hang out with us.”
THHC has been opened for nine and half years now, expanding and
adding new gadgets and staff as the business continues to grow.
“[The store] has grown a lot,” Davis said. “That’s the big thing —
we’ve had to make big changes just to keep up with how much we were
growing. We expanded the store and added on the extra dining room
Cade Ritter
and the front register area. We’ve gotten a lot more technology impleTexas Honey Ham Company manager Andrew Davis greets customers in front of the pick-up register.

20

People + places westlakefeatherduster.com

Breaking barriers

Courageous activists fight for gender equality in Israel
Women silently cry as they pray. They sway with the emoportant, and remains important to us. In the last five years, really due
tions of the words that have been spoken for all of Jewish history in
to social networking, we have been able to create a large movement
that spot. Notes fill the crevices of the ancient, broken walls. Across
of people who care about democracy, women’s rights and freedom of
a divider Jewish men sing and dance while holding their Torahs and
expression in the public sphere and the empowerment of women in
wearing all of the traditional garb that is to be expected of Orthodox
the public eye. So many people have joined our groups, people who are
Jews. The space that Jews hold so dearly as the most sacred place in
Jewish and not Jewish and people from America, Asia, Europe and Isthe world has forced a division between fathers and daughters, brothrael. All over the world people have tuned in via their computers to us.”
ers and sisters and, more often than not, friends.
However, Women of the Wall was not always so widely supported.
The Western Wall became the most holy sight in the Jewish world
Even Israeli police and Israel’s Supreme Court justices felt the need to
due to its historical and religious significance. It is the last remaining
step in and keep the Wall divided.
wall of the second temple in which every crack is filled with notes and
“Before March 2013 women were not allowed to pray out loud, wear
prayers from throughout the ages. In 1967 the wall was divided by gen- Tallit, Tefillin (prayers you wear on arms and head), or have any acder due to a passage in the Torah stating that the voice and presence of
cess to a Torah scroll,” Pruce said. “All of this was the interpretation
women will not allow for men to focus on prayer.
of [Israel’s] Supreme Court’s decision from 2003. What the Supreme
Israel Defense Force soldiers were posted at the sight and security
Court said left a lot to be interpreted. The Supreme Court had difficulty
was installed. A barrier was put up between what would become the
making a decision because on one hand they said this is public space
gender separate sections. Worse still, the women’s side was built
in Israel and women should have equal rights. On the other hand the
one-third the size of the men’s forcing the women to crowd in silence
court also was aware that there was an issue of offending the sensitivdisconnected from their male counterparts.
ity of the ultra Orthodox Jews, which are a minority in Israel but a
Senior Vanessa Feldman got the chance to visit the Western Wall on
majority at the Wall.”
a trip with 70 American teenagers before her junior year. She got to
As global support increased for the Women of the Wall program,
experience first-hand the differences between the male and female side women from all over the world came to support the cause. One Women
of the wall.
of the Wall supporter, Andrea Wise, moved to Israel from America
“If you’re a male you are allowed to
permanently and became one of the
wear your prayer shawl, and they usuprogram’s most involved supporters.
ally wear Kippot and Tefillin which are
“It’s important to me because I think
prayers that wrap around their hands,
that all types of Jews should be able
arms and head,” Vanessa said. “Also,
to pray at the Wall,” Wise said. “The
you could hear from the men’s side a
Wall can’t only be Orthodox friendly. It
Bar Mitzvah happening and you could
needs to be open to Conservative and
kind of see it through the cracks in the
Reform Jews as well. I don’t believe
barrier, but the women’s side was basithat one way of Judaism is the right
cally silent.”
way, so it needs to be for everyone.”
It is illegal for women to pray out
Wise is on the front page of Israeli
loud on their side. However, Vanand American newspapers frequently
essa found a sense of place among the
due to her support. She has seen the
crowded women’s side of the wall.
25-year-old program change drastically
“It was weird because everyone who
and improve.
was there were strangers, yet you felt
courtesy photo “I feel that recently a lot of progress
this sense of community and connechas been made,” Wise said. “They
Seniors Hannah Turner and Vanessa Feldman stand in front of the Western Wall in Israel which
tion,” Vanessa said. “It was one of the
stopped arresting women for breakthey visited in the summer of 2012. “It was weird because everyone who was there were strangmost incredible feelings. It sounds
ing the custom of the place and started
ers, yet you felt this sense of community and connection,” Vanessa said.
strange because I didn’t know any of
to arrest the people who are throwing
them.”
chairs, throwing bags of poop and blow Though her experience was memoing whistles to stop the women praying.
rable and religiously important, the inequalities struck a chord in
Women are now allowed by law to wear tallit and tefillin at the Kotel.”
Vanessa’s memories.
Though Israel is 7172 miles away from Austin, the issue is still preva “It is tradition,” Vanessa said. “It is what has always been happening, lent to many Jewish Westlake students.
but I don’t think that is the way it has to keep going. We’re in modern
“Jewish kids in Texas should care because Israel is also their home
times now. I don’t think it’s fair that [the men] had a bigger side and
and the Wall is the holiest place in the Jewish world — and they have
they got to wear their Jewish items. We’re not allowed to do that at all
the right to pray there and to feel good there,” Wise said. “Not like it’s
on the women’s side. I would have worn my Tallit (a prayer shawl) if
not a place for them. They too are part of Am Israel (the global Israeli
I could because that has connection to me. I got it when I became Bat
community). For every kid in Texas, this is an issue of religious rights,
Mitzvah and it’s from Israel, and that would have made it a stronger
and religious freedom. It’s one of the bases that America was estabexperience for me. I think it was unfair that I was unable to do that.”
lished on that everyone has the right to practice their religion how
Beginning in 1988 the Women of the Wall movement in Jerusalem
they should be able to. Israel is a Jewish state, but now it seems that
has made impressive strides towards gender equality and breaking the
it’s actually an Orthodox Jewish state. And not all Jews are allowed to
silence at the Western Wall.
practice how they want to in this particular place. But it’s not a private
“Women of the Wall started as a very small group who wanted to
synagogue. All Jews should be able to practice there. Jews in Israel
pray and were denied their rights,” said Shira Pruce, Women of the
are fighting for something that is so important to American values. So
Wall Public Relations Director. “Throughout the years we have found
I feel that Americans can really relate to what is happening here. We
ourselves alone in that we were fighting long court battles and only had should all be treated equally.”
10-15 women praying with us. This is an issue that we knew was im—Hannah Turner

W

Lighthearted
Exchange student electrifies TEC lighting, joins video crew
At the Battle of the Bands on Oct. 25, junior
Jan Stein controls the lights. Jan came to
Westlake to participate in the TEC program.

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people + places westlakefeatherduster.com

L

ights of every color illuminate the Performing Arts Center as the sound of electric guitars
and drums pounds through the air on Dec. 14 at
the Nutcracker Spectacular. The audience sits in
stunned silence as the lights flash and swirl to the
beat of the music. White, blue, pink, green — every
second brings a new color flashing across the stage.
It’s a brand new light show programmed by German exchange student junior Jan Stein.
Life can change in the blink of an eye, or, in
Jan’s case, with the click of a mouse. Nine months ago back home in
Überlingen, Germany, Jan stumbled across a video of the 2010 Zenith
light show on YouTube. Impressed by the quality of the production, he
began to investigate how to attend Westlake and become part of the
Technical Entertainment Crew.
“At first it was a little bit like a joke,” Jan said. “I told my mom, ‘Oh,
that would be cool to go there.’ And then it got really serious, because
the exchange thing is common in Germany, so I always thought about
doing it.”
Jan contacted English teacher Allison Scacco, who then contacted
TEC director David Poole.
“We had never had a foreign exchange student before [in the TEC
program],” Poole said. “I had never dealt with the foreign exchange
program at all, so we had to learn this process together. [Jan] was saying, ‘What will it take to make this happen?’ I didn’t know. So I started
talking to [German teacher Scott] Gardner first, and then I started
talking with the counselors. They started giving me information.”
Poole told Jan that he would need to come to the United States
through an exchange program and live with a host family. Jan went
through two programs, Center for Cultural Exchange on the American
end and Munich Academic Program on the German end, and arranged to live with the family of freshman Fredericka Paulson, who
had previously hosted four other exchange students. However, since
his host family was not in town at the time of his arrival, Jan spent
his first week in the States living with Poole. Poole introduced Jan not
only to his new school and the TEC program, but also to his soon-to-be

Junior Jan Stein’s light show
at the Nutcracker Spectacular
illuminates the stage.

photos by Cade Ritter

friends.
“My wife’s a school teacher too, and we thought, ‘Here’s this guy
who’s going to leave his family and all his friends and come all the way
over here, so we need to introduce him pretty quickly, not just to Austin, but to students,’” Poole said. “There were actually students from
TEC who met him at the airport. We wanted him to feel welcomed
right away.”
Jan soon grew comfortable
with the TEC department and
the people in it.
“Here the friendship is so
great,” Jan said. “Everyone supports me. [My biggest support
comes from] David Poole. When
I struggled in school, I went to
him and he went to the counselor with me. If I have any issues I
can talk to him.”
Jan has also adjusted to living with a new family.
“I’m an only child and don’t
have sisters at home, and my
host family has a freshman girl and two boys,” Jan said. “I’m sharing a
room with the 10-year-old boy. There is always so much life going on.
It’s pretty new.”
Although students in the TEC department are involved to varying
degrees, Poole urged Jan to heavily involve himself in the program.
Jan’s primary interest was lighting, but Poole convinced him to join
video crew as well.
“In the fall we don’t have as many big productions, and I thought
that if Jan was going to come over here, he really needed to get immersed in really big projects, and the football video crew is pretty
much off the charts,” Poole said. “I mentioned to Jan over the phone
that it would be best if [he] got involved in this video project. I think
American football was very foreign to him, and also being on a video
crew. I know Jan was a little bit reluctant.”

Despite his hesitancy, Jan ultimately enjoyed being part of video
crew. Everything he has done in the TEC department has sharpened
his skills. Westlake offers him more in this area than he could have
found back home.
“Basically I get more order and professionalism here,” Jan said. “I
learned how to go on new projects and solve them and go with a team
and transmit this leadership. At my old school we didn’t have this
much leadership.”
Jan has demonstrated
extreme dedication to the
program, spending much of his
time outside of school involved
in it. It took him more than 20
hours to program the new light
show for Nutcracker Spectacular.
“Time scheduling [has been
challenging],” Jan said. “I have
to decide [between spending]
time with my host family or
time here, and right now my
time’s more for school and
TEC.”
After his experience at Westlake, Jan is considering a career in
technical theater.
“I am definitely thinking about it, if it’s in Europe or America,” Jan
said. “In the end you never know, but the passion is there.”
So far, Jan’s year at Westlake has proven to be well worth the trip.
Not only has he been exposed to a new and exciting culture, but he has
become an invaluable asset to the TEC program.
“He came for the lighting and the technology, but at the end of the
day, he’s made so many close friends,” Poole said. “He’s made friends
that he’ll know for the rest of his life. We never knew what was going to
happen here having a foreign exchange student, but it’s been great for
the program.”
—Sara Phillips

“We had never had a foreign exchange
student before [in the TEC program.]
I had never dealt with the foreign exchange program at all, so we had to
learn this process together.”
−TEC director David Poole

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trends + trads
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virtuoso
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[vur-choo-oh-soh] noun

a person who has special
knowledge or skill in their
chosen endeavor

icons by Alex Charnes

AHEAD OF
THE GAME
Digital artist pursues career, produces video game

As she stares at the screen, deep in
concentration, she deftly slides her stylus
along the drawing tablet sitting on the
desk in front of her. On the computer
screen, an image of the 360 Bridge over
Lake Austin begins to appear and take
shape.
Recent Westlake graduate Betsy Yang
is a digital artist and has been accepted
into the exclusive Entertainment Design
Program at Art Center College of Design
in Pasadena, Calif. Betsy went through
a rigorous application process, in which
she was required to create a portfolio of
unique digital art.
“I had to make up my own story, with
characters, vehicles and props,” Betsy
said. “It had to be at least 20 pages.
Unfortunately, I had a mix-up during the
process. I called the admissions people,
and they gave me the wrong information,
so I applied much earlier than I needed
to.”
Betsy first found out that she was accepted Nov. 26, when the school sent an
email congratulating her. The program
only accepts 19 students, and it is rare to
be admitted straight out of high school.
“When I first got the email, I was
in math class, so I tried to keep paying
attention and not get too excited,” Betsy
said. “I had Googled around and found
portfolios from a few other people who
applied. They were all very good, so I was
amazed I got in.”
At Art Center, students receive a
rigorous education in drawing, rendering,
model building and sculpting, as well as

26

trends + traditions westlakefeatherduster.com

an introduction to 3D digital tools. While
the program is challenging, Betsy can’t
wait to begin.
“I’m looking forward to working and
learning around a professional community of other talented artists — hopefully I’ll
learn a lot,” Betsy said. “I’m also excited
to be living in California.”
Betsy’s interest in art first manifested
as a young child, when she started drawing for fun. She later determined that
she wanted to do it as a career. Betsy
normally does digital art, and uses Adobe
Photoshop CS2 to create her work.
“I first decided to do digital art
because it’s very easy to learn,” Betsy
said. “You can do any style you want,
like drawing or painting. I like to use PC,
but if you’re just drawing then there’s no
difference. My biggest inspirations were
video games and movies in general like
‘Fallout,’ ‘Bioshock’ and ‘Star Wars.’”
Even as a freshman starting Art I, Betsy’s skills were already highly developed,
and she has advanced rapidly throughout
her years at Westlake.
“When I first taught her, I was immediately able to tell that she would excel,”
art teacher Roselle Casey said. “She
exhibited an inordinate amount of talent.
She innately understood good design and
color. It has been very exciting to watch
her grow as an artist because I could see
she would exceed all her expectations.”
Along with her artistic success, Betsy
is creating her own video game. The
game will be available for PC, Mac and
Linux users and is planned to have a June

release date.
“I really wanted more experience in
digital art, but I couldn’t get into any
programs without any experience,” Betsy
said. “So I decided to make my own
experience.”
In order to begin creating the game,
Betsy needed to find a team of developers
and even created her own company, Two
Crowns Entertainment.
“I first went on the Internet and posted on blogging websites that I was hiring
for this project,” Betsy said. “I quickly
got a lot of replies, so I started doing
Skype interviews. I chose the people who
seemed the most competent and could
bring the most to the project. After I had
the group of people, we sat around for a
night and made up names for our company. Two Crowns Entertainment is what
we came up with. It thematically matched
our game, and the logo looked cool.”
As creative director of the project,
Betsy is in charge of the execution, tone
and visual aspects of the game. The
game, called The Diviner, is a text-based
choose-your-own adventure game that
will be set in a fantasy world and deals
with the formation of a post-apocalyptic
society. In order to raise money for the
creation of the multitude of characters,
illustrations and choices in the game,
Betsy started a fundraiser on kickstarter.
com that has already raised more than
$10,000, her original goal.
“I never expected to actually get full
funding for the project,” Betsy said. “It
was really amazing and exciting to see

Top left, top right, middle: Samples of Betsy’s work,
found on her website. Scan the QR code below to see
more (her website is under the name Tianzi Yang).
Bottom: Betsy with her computer in her digital art
classroom.

how much interest there was in the game.”
Betsy gained business experience
through her shop on etsy.com, a website
where people around the world connect to
buy and sell unique goods. Betsy’s shop sells
clothing items such as skeleton Halloween
sweaters. Her mom also has her own fashion business and owns a factory in northern
China that makes clothes for both Betsy’s
shop and her mom’s business.
“My shop has sold about 400 items right
now,” Betsy said. “There are only a few
items in the shop, and it is incredible how
those items could sell so many units. I’ve
made a couple thousand from it. It’s taught
me a lot about business management, like
how to handle money and how to handle
working relations with other people.”
Betsy graduated early, and has been at
Art Center since the beginning of January.
“I graduated early so I can enter the industry earlier,” Betsy said. “I guess I’m just
very impatient to start working and studying towards professional work, so graduating early was just another step in that.”
As she creates her video game and begins
classes at Art Center, Betsy has reflected on
art and what it means to her.
“I like art because it’s so powerful — you
can inspire faith, form an entire multibillion dollar industry or teach an abstract
concept,” Betsy said. “It’s incredibly cool
that some lines on paper can change society
that much. I don’t think I’ll ever stop doing
art. Even when I’ve retired I still want to
draw. Art gives me a challenge and something to focus on.”
—Jack Stenglein

Cade Ritter

Light on her feet
Dancer participates in elite programs,
performs in music video, indie movie

H
Junior Ellie Edwards smiles
and pirouettes on stage at
the Nutcracker Spectacular.

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trends + traditions westlakefeatherduster.com

Zhouie Martinez

Hair pulled into a slicked bun, makeup perfected and the
beautiful pink tutu fit to her petite ballerina body, junior Ellie Edward
pirouettes center stage as her partner twirls her six times. Little girls i
the audience stare in awe as Ellie does an over split grand jete, wantin
to be just like the effortless dancer.
Ellie began her first dance class six years ago when she was 10 — la
by dancing standards. Now, her time is completely devoted to training
Last spring, she decided to turn in her Hyline boots and step away fro
the Friday night lights to pursue her passion in a different direction.
“I love Hyline because it’s so much fun and a great organization,” E
lie said. “It’s just all the hours that I put into [Hyline and private danc
classes] outside of school while trying to maintain school work was
too much. I realized it would be better for me to focus more on [Alisa’
Dance Academy]. Yes, I do miss it. I miss the pep rallies and the footb
games, but I know that I made the right choice.”
Ellie’s talent has given her opportunities that other dancers only
dream of. She danced in Paramore’s “Still Into You” music video. The
video now has more than 28 million views on YouTube.
“[The music video] was really cool,” she said. “It was a really good
experience because it shows all the work that you have to put into it.”
She also performed in the Emmy-nominated film, Bernie, starring
Jack Black. Ellie, dressed as a band member, danced in a scene with
Black as he rehearsed a musical in the community theater. The scene
was actually shot in Westlake’s Performing Arts Center.
“Being in Bernie was also really awesome,” she said. “I got to talk t
Jack Black, get my hair and makeup done, and I just felt like I was rea
a part of the movie.”
Ellie also dances in the annual Nutcracker play showcased by Alisa
Dance Academy with music from the Westlake orchestra. She has
danced in the ballet for six years and has been cast as a lead role for fo
years. This will be her second year dancing as the Sugar Plum Fairy.
“It is so special getting to walk on the stage with a beautiful costum
on and to dance like a princess,” she said. “It brings me such joy to pe
form in front of all of those people.”
All of these performances have not come without sacrifice. Most of
Ellie’s free time is consumed by practicing, performing or teaching oth
dancers.
“I dance four days a week from about 4-9:15 p.m. each night,” she
said. “Sometimes on the weekends I have rehearsals for about five
hours. On my own time, I practice my solos, have private lessons or

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to
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a’s

our

me
er-

f
her

Left: Balancing in relevé, junior
Ellie Edwards performs the part
of the Sugar Plum Fairy. Ellie has
danced in the Nutcracker Spectacular for six years, performing a
lead part for four.
Right: Waiting off stage at a performance, Ellie gets into character
and prepares to dance. Ellie began
dancing at the age of 10 at Alisa’s
Dance Academy.

Tim Whaling

Tim Whaling

teach classes [at Alisa’s]. I teach because I get to be a role model for
the little girls and try to portray all the concepts that I never learned
because I came into dance late. I never understood all the basics, so I
get to try and re-teach these important things to all of my students and
inspire them.”
Even though Ellie doesn’t have much free time, she still is able to
keep up with her academics.
“I get out a period early, go home and do as much homework as I
can, then go to dance until about 10 p.m.,” she said. “I come home, try
to finish homework and get some rest. Sometimes I don’t get it all done,
though. When everything gets
hectic, I just try to take a deep
breath and know that everything’s going to be OK, and if I
just keep pushing it’ll all pay off
in the end.”
Ellie has not only sacrificed
time. It is common for ballerinas
to have issues with their feet.
Their pointe shoes force them to
stand on wooden boxes.
“My toenails have fallen off
before, and I get blisters a lot,”
she said. “My feet are pretty
messed up, but you have to fight
through the pain to become a better dancer.”
Ellie gets much more than just exercise out of this art that many
young men and women wish to make a career out of.
“I dance because it’s my passion, and it’s more than just moving —
it’s something for my soul,” she said. “I get to express myself.”
Last spring, Ellie was selected to serve as an NRG (pronounced
“energy,” a dance convention created by Nick Gonzalez and Rustin Matthew that travels the nation) prodigy. In the tryouts, she had to perform
traditional ballet, contemporary, hip hop and jazz. For a full year, she
will travel to various states with other dancers including professionals
such as Nick Gonzalez and Cat Viger to assist with classes. Like many juniors, Ellie does not know what her plan is after high school, but hopes
to continue dance as a career.
“I definitely want to pursue dance,” she said. “Right now I just

started looking at colleges. I want to dance for as long as I can until my
body gives out, then after that I’d love to come back and own my own
studio and teach all the little girls how to dance.”
Career options for most dancers usually include dancing on Broadway in New York or in movies and music videos in Los Angeles.
“I’ve said [I wanted to dance in] LA all my life, but now I’m starting to think Broadway could actually be a pretty awesome gig, if I could
make it out there,” she said. “I’d have to work on my singing, but in that
job you receive constant revenue, and you get the opportunity to perform for so many people. In LA, it’s more behind-the-scenes like a music
video or a commercial, which is
really fun also because that is the
type of dancing I like. Either would
be awesome.”
With all of this experience
under her belt, Ellie still gets the
butterfly feeling in her stomach
before performing.
“I get really nervous before
performances,” Ellie said. “I get in
the zone, and if people try to talk to
me, well, it’s rough.”
One huge influence in Ellie’s life
is Alisa Laraway, owner of Alisa’s
Dance Academy. Laraway is very
proud of Ellie and excited to see
where Ellie’s talent takes her.
“Inside the studio, Ellie is a hardworking, extremely dedicated and
very driven dancer,” Laraway said. “Outside of the studio, Ellie is very
much the same as inside the studio. She applies the same attributes she
utilizes in dance to everyday life. Ellie is a good-natured young lady; she
is always there for her friends and family. She has a very caring soul. She
is an amazing role model for all the young dancers at the studio.”
Even with all of her talent and upcoming fame, Ellie keeps her feet
on the ground.
“I think there’s a way you can be humble and still work really hard,”
she said. “I feel like you can always improve. There will always be someone better than you. Even if you are the best one time, doesn’t mean
you’re the best every time.”
—Zhouie Martinez

“It is so special getting to walk
on the stage with a beautiful costume on and to dance like a princess. It brings me such joy to perform in front of all those people.”
—junior Ellie Edwards

Good sports
Contreras sisters excel in swimming, tennis

30

On the court and in the pool, the
Contreras sisters, junior Fernanda and
senior Magdalena have serious game.
Both girls started their sports when they
were young, back in Mexico. At first, they
both dabbled in swimming and tennis, but
at ages 9 and 11 their mom told them to
choose between the two.
“I started playing tennis with my dad
when I was four but I started practicing
tennis every day when I was nine,” Fernanda said. “[Magdalena] chose swimming, even though everybody thought that
she was going to be the tennis player.”
In August of 2011, the girls moved to
Austin in order for their mom to study at
the University of Texas. Fernanda said
that it was hard to leave her friends, but
that she still looked forward to the experience.
“I didn’t want to leave, but I was
excited to come,” she said. “I do like it
here though. The technology is better.
The courts too. Here, if there is one crack
in the courts they’re like, ‘Oh my God.
We have to redo the whole thing.’ but
trends + traditions westlakefeatherduster.com

[in Mexico] if there’s a huge hole in the
courts, they’re like, ‘Eh. They’ll last for 10
more years.’”
Fernanda said that her biggest obstacle
competing when she first started out was
her strong desire to win.
“I was really competitive when I was
younger,” Fernanda said. “They used to
tell me to calm down a little bit.”
“When she says ‘really’ she means
extreme,” Magdalena said.
“I used to cry if I lost a point,” Fernanda said.
“When she started, she wasn’t that
good so she always lost 0-6, 0-6, so this
first time she lost 1-6, 0-6, she was so
excited,” Magdalena said. “She came out
with this big smile and said ‘I lost 1-6.’”
“And then I started winning,” Fernanda said. “And I would start losing to
people that I didn’t think I should lose to.
I got really upset, and I would have to talk
to people to calm down.”
That competitive spirit runs in the
family. Almost everyone on their dad’s
side plays tennis. Their grandfather won

Junior Fernanda Contreras stands alongside her sister,
senior Magdalena Contreras. “Having a sister is like having
a best friend you can’t get rid of,” Fernanda said. “You
know whatever you do, they’ll still be there.”

While Magdalena thrives on the
mental clarity of swimming, Fernanda
said that she enjoys the strategic aspect of
tennis.
“My favorite part is just being in the
court, and the mental challenge of figuring out what the other person doesn’t
like,” Fernanda said. “You have to figure
out their weakness and ask yourself, ‘Can
I play my strengths against their weakness? How am I going to beat them?’”
And their hard work has paid off
because both girls have won a variety
of awards and competitions including
swimmer and tennis player of the year at
their old athletics club in Mexico. On top
of that, Fernanda got third in regionals
her freshman year, made it to semifinals

moment was during an open water 10K.
“It was in Cancun in the ocean,” she
said. “It was rough that day because there
was a lot of bad weather. I was basically
swimming alone because I lost the group
of people. I finished and was like ‘Oh my
God, I’m done’ but when I looked around,
there was nothing set up. I thought I
lost. It turned out that I got there when
the 5K [swimmers] got there. I took a
shower and when I came out, they were
like ‘Where were you? We didn’t see you
at the podium. You got first place by 20
minutes.’ The rest of the group got lost
and because I was swimming alone I went
straight to the finish line, so I won.”
Swimming in open water is less than
normal for high school swimmers, but
Magdalena said that it has to be one
of her favorite parts of her sport.
“I love swimming in open water,”
she said. “I like it because you have
a finish line and you don’t know how
far you’ve gone. You just go from buoy
to buoy until you’re done. And, when
you swim in open water you can see
the reefs and fish underneath you,
so you’re not focused on one thing.
You’re focused on a lot of different
things.”
After Magdalena finished talking
about her 10K, Fernanda added her
two cents.
“I would just die,” she said. “I
would be like, ‘someone get me a
rope.’”
At least some of the credit for Fernanda and Magdalena’s success goes
towards their coaches, both of whom
push the girls to their limits.
“Every time that I win a tournament when everyone else tells me
how well I did, [my coach, Vince
Casariego] will say ‘That sucked! You
have to work on that backhand!’ or ‘My
grandma could beat that serve,’” Fernanda said. “He always brings me down, but
it’s because he wants me to aim higher. So
every time I feel happy, he brings me back
to being more humble.”
“They have to be tough for you to
push yourself harder,” Magdalena said.
“My biggest problem is that I mentally
block myself, so [my coach, Mike Laitala]
is really supportive of that. He tells me
‘I know that you can do it. You’ve been
doing this.’
He really finds the small flaws. Every
little detail that he finds is a big change
when I fix it.”
Both Fernanda and Magdalena don’t
want their sports careers to end with high

“I don’t see her as
my rival. I want to
get to her level. I
look up to her, and
of course I want
to beat her all the
time, but it’s different.”
—junior Fernanda
Contreras
last year, has a combined high school
record of 75-3 and she is currently ranked
number one in the state for under 16 year
olds. Magdalena has won bronze in Mexican nationals in a relay and had the state
record for the 800 and 1500 yard races
back in Mexico.
“I won Grandslam [a Texas-wide
tournament] this year,” Fernanda said. “It
was one of the hardest tournaments I’ve
played. I was so happy. It was 10 days of
playing tournaments and the day before
the finals, my partner and I lost doubles.
I was like, ‘Oh my God, if I lose singles,
I’m out.’ I was working hard all summer
for that tournament, and when I won I
couldn’t believe it.”
Magdalena’s said that her proudest

photos by Shelby Westbrook

Wimbledon in mixed, and their father
won the Davis Cup, the only time that
Mexico has ever beaten the U.S.
It takes hours of grueling practice for
Fernanda and Magdalena to reach the
level that they have. They both practice
six days a week for a total of 24 hours,
which leaves Magdalena with semi-permanent goggle marks.
“We [start out] with an hour of dryland,” Magdalena said. “So running and
pull ups, weights and all that fun stuff.
Then we swim for two and a half hours.
We’ll have a warmup, then a main set,
then a warm down. And some days I have
doubles. Like this morning, I had practice
at 5 and then I go back to practice from 4
to 7:30.”
Fernanda’s tennis practices are just
as taxing.
“We get there and we warm up,”
Fernanda said. “I usually play with
[junior] Charles Tan to warm up. Then
they do a lot of feeding [when we’re
tossed the ball to just practice our
strokes]. Then at the end of the day we
always have an hour of fitness. That’s
the worst. [My private coach] will also
have me read things for homework like
‘The Way of the Peaceful Warrior.’”
It can be difficult to balance schoolwork and a social life with the hours
of practice towards their sports, and
both girls admit that they’ve had their
doubts before on whether or not they
made the right choice to be so focused
on their sports.
“It’s hard because we leave our
house at 8 in the morning and we don’t
get back until 8:30 or 9 at night,” Magdalena said. “So we’re away all day and
don’t get home until really late. Then
there’s homework. Sometimes I think
‘Why am I doing this?’, but then it pays
off and I’m OK with it.”
Fernanda shares the same sentiment.
“Sometimes when I have a bad day or
when I lose, I’ll think about how I could
be watching a movie or studying instead
of being [here],” Fernanda said. “But then
I’m like, ‘no, I like it too much.’ I can’t
stop. It’s hard, but it’s addicting.”
Both Fernanda and Magdalena said
that even through all of the challenges
that go along with being competitive
athletes, they love it and wouldn’t give it
up for anything.
“Swimming is basically my safe place,”
Magdalena said. “I can figure out all of
my problems and I have a clear mind.
I can get rid of all of my stress and just
concentrate.”

1

continued from page 31
school. Fernanda said that she plans on continuing
with tennis throughout college and wants to teach her
kids to play as well. Magdalena is aiming even higher.
“I want to go to the Olympics,” she said. “I just try to
push myself a little harder every day. I’m tired, and I’m
not really making the intervals, but I’m going to keep
pushing and moving myself forward.”
Of course, injuries are a big part of sports. Magdalena said that she has gotten hurt a multitude of times,
but Fernanda almost never gets injured. In fact the
only injury she has received is a twisted knee that still
requires an MRI.
“I’m clumsy, so I’m always hurt,” Magdalena said.
“It’s like a family joke every time I fall. It’s like ‘Oh,
that’s something that Magda would do.’ Doing weights,
I pinched my cyatic nerve. It was really bad and I had
to go to physical therapy. [While] flip turning, I missed
the wall and hit my ankle. When I was swimming in
open water, somebody punched me in the goggles and
broke them. Then, doing box jumps, I fell and the wall
went straight into my shin and right to my bone. I
had to get stitches. It’s just funny how somebody that
should get hurt all the time doesn’t, and I always get
hurt by really little things.”
For the most part, the girls say that there is not
much sibling rivalry or competition between them, but
there is the occasional debate on whose sport is better.
Both girls admit that if they played the same sport, the
atmosphere would be much tenser.
“I don’t see her as my rival,” Fernanda said. “I want
to get to her level. I look up to her, and of course I want
to beat her all the time, but it’s different. I would love
if she played tennis because we could play doubles
together but then I would have to play singles against
her too.”
Of course, all siblings fight a little and the Contreras
sisters are no exception
“She drives now,” Fernanda said. “but when she
didn’t, we would race to the car to say, ‘shotgun’. She
would always take it from me anyway until I got bigger.”
“At one point I was really jealous of her,” Magdalena
said. “Thinking ‘Why is she doing so well and I’m not.’
I was stuck in one place and would think ‘how is she
doing that?’. Then I just stopped focusing on her and
started having fun with what I do, and I started to do
better.”
With the amount of time spent perfecting their own
sports, there is not much time left to watch each other
compete.
“I think the last time I saw her swim was back
in Mexico,” Fernanda said. “It’s hard here, though,
because she’ll always have [competitions] when I have
school or tennis.”
“It’s hard, but we try to go and see each other,”
Magdalena said. “We’ll critique each other.”
“I’ll always tell her she’s slow,” Fernanda said. “and
she’ll say ‘I won’ and I’ll say, ‘I know, but still.’”
—Peyton Richardson

32

trends + traditions westlakefeatherduster.com

1. Working on her forehand, junior Fernanda Contreras practices at the Westlake tennis courts in late December.
2. Senior Magdalena Contreras practices the breaststroke at the Lee and Joe Jamail Texas Swimming Center.

2

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The piano man

Musician earns No. 1 spot at
TMEA All-State Jazz audition

photo manipulation by Cade Ritter

34

Music — a universal phenomenon that
impacts human existence, no matter where in
the world you go. For most of us, music serves
the simple function of entertainment; however,
for senior Joey Listrom, music has become
much more than that. It has become a way of
life and a passion that he has felt for as long as
he can remember.
“I first started playing when I was 5 years
old,” Joey said. “My dad would be on the piano,
and I would go up and try to find what he was
playing. My dad is a classically trained pianist,
and he sang opera professionally. And so when
he and my mom saw that, they started me with
lessons.”
Being part of a musical family proved to be
the catalyst in Joey’s career and inspired his
enthusiasm for the instrument.
“We have a Young Chang Baby Grand, and
it’s the grand piano that my parents first got me
and all of my brothers in 1988,” Joey said. “My
oldest brother plays guitar, another brother
plays metal drums, I play piano and then the
other brother just doesn’t play an instrument.
But my parents started us all with this piano
and it’s sort of just been in our family.”
As he got older, piano became an integral
part of Joey’s life, and he began playing in
bands outside of school, escalating his exposure
to the music he was pursuing.
“The bands I’ve been in came about through
jazz band at school,” Joey said. “It’s really just
being around friends who also play music. I’d
say I’ve probably been in about 10 different musical groups. Things just kind of happen when
everyone’s musical tastes line up.”
As well as allowing him to meet other aspiring artists, being a part of the school program
has opened up doors to state competitions,
allowing Joey to play piano at an even higher
level. In November, he won the Texas Music
Educators Association All-State Jazz audition
on piano, earning him one of two positions in
the All-State Jazz Ensembles. Around 40 pianists were selected from more than 100 others
to even compete for these two spots. However,
Joey proved himself to be the greatest pianist
there, earning the number one place.
“So far the only competitions that I’ve done
are the TMEA competitions,” Joey said. “I
got third place sophomore year, second place
junior year and then this year I finally became
number one.”
This competition has proved to be a highly
important accolade in what Joey hopes will be a
long musical journey.

trends + traditions westlakefeatherduster.com

“My parents are absolutely supportive of me
pursuing music in college and as a career,” Joey
said. “So that’s what I’m going to school for. As
of now, the top three schools that I’ve applied
to are the University of Miami, University of
Southern California and Juilliard.”
However this dream doesn’t come without
the work, and Joey practices daily to maintain
his abilities and attain his goals.
“Practice is kind of hard with the balancing
between it and schoolwork,” Joey said. “But I
try to get in at least an hour and a half to two
hours each day.”
In addition to playing piano and occasionally the keytar — a piano keyboard held like a
guitar — Joey has also tackled another aspect of
music, often composing his own pieces.
“I write pretty much for any genre,” Joey
said. “I sometimes write lyrics with my music;
it just depends on what genre I’m writing for. I
mostly like composing for movie soundtracks,
and that’s probably what I’ll be going to school
for. Inspiration, for me, can really come from
anything. Every new thing is just in the moment, and so when those moments happen, I
just have to stay focused on that and see what
comes of it.”
Beyond the playing and the composing, Joey
also devotes time to simply listening to music
and has developed his own favorite bands and
musicians that have influenced his style.
“I listen to all kinds of stuff,” Joey said. “I’m
a big fan of classic hip-hop, but I also listen to
plenty of jazz. My favorite groups are probably
A Tribe Called Quest, Digital Underground, Average White Band and Parliament-Funkadelic.”
Throughout this whole process, the Westlake band and orchestra departments have
played very influential roles, shaping Joey into
the musician he has become.
“Being in orchestra and jazz band has definitely helped to turn over stones that I otherwise would’ve passed over musically,” Joey
said. “It’s opened up new worlds and paths that
are now possible to me.”
Piano has been a constant in Joey’s life,
and he plans on continuing this trend as he
goes forward, as it plays such a vital role in his
identity.
“Most of the time, unless I really have to
focus on learning a new piece or not messing
up, my mind is just blank,” Joey said. “I know
this is corny, but I guess when life gets hard,
piano’s always just been sort of a stable outlet I
can turn to.”
—Monica Rao

Your story
isnt going
to touch the
purple line
over
“The ‘11-’12 season was the first time I did FTC, and we built
here.
[the NXT brick] so we wouldn’t have to carry a PC around,”
Rothfus said. “We used it a little bit during [this year’s season]. Rule

For the past few months, someting has been brewing
on the bottom floor of the Ninth Grade Center. Among Westlake
students lies an elite team of sophomore First Tech Challenge robotics students working meticulously to innovate the technology
And after that I said, ‘let’s do it for real.’”
used in preparation of sport robotics. A trio comprised of Akshay
The team is optimistic about future prospects of the ChapR
Prakash, Rachel Gardner and Ben Gorr — with the help of their
and expects to sell more as publicity increases, estimating longmentor Eric Rothfus — have been logging hours after school
term sales to be capable of reaching a substantial portion of
every Tuesday and Thursday to manage the production and
America’s FTC teams.
distribution of a unique product, as well as filing for its patent.
“There are 2,763 [FTC] teams in the USA, so we could potenThe attainment of their mental exertion: a Bluetooth-equipped
tially sell 2,763,” Akshay said.
remote designed to replace the laptop in the chain of control for
“I don’t know. I think you should double that because everyFTC robots. This would
one’s going to want at
Aurasma by Cooper Kerbow least two,” Ben added.
effectively eliminate
both the inconvenient
The team’s next
heft and short battery
project will be a hub
life of a laptop, thus
version of the ChapR
making practice more
designed to be used
efficient and easier to
by multiple people at
perform.
once in a competition
This helpful
setting, as opposed to
device is called the
being used strictly for
ChapR, which stands
the normal practice
for “Chap Robotpurposes of which the
ics” and/or “Chap
current ChapR operRemote.” Some of the
ates in.
ChapR’s key features
“In our competiare a 9v lithium battions there’s sometery, a pocket-sized
thing called the field
profile, and an autocontrol system and
matic power-down
that’s what coordifeature to conserve
nates [the synchrobattery. The team
nized stopping and
photo by Nick Appling
might also add that it
starting of robots],”
Sophomores Akshay Prakash, Rachael Gardner and Ben Gore show off their Bluetooth -equipped remote.
is “hopelessly smooth.”
Rachel said. “Now it’s
“This is actually a
run by Wi-Fi, and
joke among us,” Akshay said. “On our first set of business cards
we’ve had a lot of problems with that, with connections, lag and
there was a little bubble that quoted us as ‘hopelessly smooth,’
stuff like that. We want to implement something using BlueEver since then, the saying has just sort of stuck with the team.”
tooth.”
“It’s almost like this innate property that somehow propels
The remote is available for $100 at base price and $115 with
people’s money to us and a ChapR into their hands,” Ben said.
an included programmer. Seventy-five percent of each purchase
“It’s smoother than a hot knife through butter.”
goes to the Westlake & Eanes Science and Technology AssociaSince March 2013, the team has gained an undoubtedly
tion, and 25 percent funds a free ChapR to be administered to a
beneficial experience in the production of the ChapR, learning
“team in need.” As such, the ChapR team is intent upon giving
elements of designing, selling, manufacturing, prototyping, marback to the community, rather than making a profit.
keting and even customer support.
“We decided to ship out charity ChapRs to teams in need
“We’ve learned every aspect of designing a product. Since
because we think that it is a great device that everyone should be
there’s only three of us — which has actually been great — we’ve
able to have access to, not just those who have money,” Akshay
been able to do a little bit of everything,” Rachael said.
said. “The robotics community has already given us so much. We
The idea for the ChapR stemmed from a Lego NXT prototype
just want to reciprocate what’s already given to us.”
made by Rothfus which has since evolved, and is now in its third
—Jack Speer
generation.

Signing
up

Student creates educational app
for American Sign Language

36

Presented with a challenge by the sign
language teacher, senior Mike Bartmess went
above and beyond with the app he created for
ASL.
“I had done Objective C iPad programming
in computer science,” Mike said. “Our sign
language teacher was currently looking for an
application to help us with fingerspelling and
there weren’t a lot of good options out there.
Either they were not what she wanted, they
didn’t have the features that we needed or
they were too childish and aimed for a much
lower age level.”
The ASL teacher Barbara Vinson was in
need of an app because the iPads replaced the
school’s laptop carts. These laptops had an
application called ASL Pro which Vinson had
used to help students fingerspell.
“Before we had iPads, we only had the old
laptops that we would roll in and use,” Vinson
said. “We would use ASL Pro [at the beginning of every class day]. It had finger-spelling
and a dictionary on it as well. Then we got the
iPads; I was one of the teachers who participated in the Westlake Initiative for Innovation
(WIFI) pilot program. Mike Bartmess was in
my clas,s and I said, ‘Ugh, these iPads don’t
have Flash so you can’t use ASL Pro fingerspelling.’ Towards the end of Mike’s sophomore year he said, ‘Mrs. Vinson you’ve been
complaining, do you want me to make an app
for you?’ I said, ‘Let’s do it.’”
Mike’s app is now a daily addition to the
beginning of each class. Students are able
to use it to help their finger spelling and see
what they need to work on.
“[The app] absolutely has helped finger
spelling in the class,” Vinson said. “The iPad
and the finger spelling app are great — they
have definitely helped a lot.”
Programming an app isn’t an easy task.
Mike undertook the project in the middle of
trends + traditions westlakefeatherduster.com

his sophomore year and finished during his
junior year. He plans to release more updates.
“The actual writing of the code took a year
and a half, but I worked on it mostly part-time
due to schoolwork and extracurricular activities,” Mike said.
There were many steps and complications
along the way in the app-building process,
because finger spelling requires a sign for
every letter and a corresponding image of the
hand sign to go with it. Each of those requires
a specific programming function and proper
execution to get it to work.
“I think the hardest part [of the process]
was getting the words in a random order and
splitting the words apart letter by letter,”
Mike said. “Then I had to convert those letters [to the appropriate pictures of the hand
signs].”
The app features hand signs that correspond to each letter, with adjustable speeds,
allowing you to define and sign along with the
images. Even after the finished product was
released, the sign language department and
students continue to experiment with the app,
trying to find bugs and give Mike helpful tips
for improvement.
“One bug in particular that was noticed
was the speed of the signed letters being
slow, especially when the app is first loading,
which is the fix in the current update coming out,” Mike said. “[Since the first update]
I have added a way to track how many times
you replay it to get a word right. I made the
top speed [of the hand signs] faster, and, in
addition I added the ability to set a maximum
word length.”
At first Mike had a issue with whose hands
they should use, but senior Maddie Bitting
volunteered for the job and Vinson also gave
a helpful suggestion of using the class’s blue
cabinet as a green screen.

“Maddie volunteered for her hands to be
used because she had just got her French nails
done,” Vinson said. “That blue cabinet in our
classroom acts like a green screen or a blue
screen; it’s the same thing. Maddie put her
hands up [in front of the cabinet] and clearly
did the abc’s, and he
took a snapshot with
his iPad, and that’s
how it all began.”
Maddie and Vinson both said that
ASL is a convenient
and useful tool that
took the place of
ASL Pro. Maddie
said she was happy
to help Mike with
the app.
“I thought it was
really cool that they
used my hands for
the app — I thought
I could be famous
one day,” Maddie
said. “The app is a
really great addition
to the ASL class, although I didn’t get to use
it, since I am not in ASL anymore. I think it
will really help students learn to finger spell.”
Along with the difficulties of coding the
app itself, Mike was confronted with another
challenge of getting Apple to approve the app
to be put on the App Store.
“The biggest issue with Apple approving

the app is your graphical interface must be
effectively flawless, so your colors have to
match — it has to look aesthetically pleasing,”
Mike said. “I actually had one of my friends
[senior] Akash Thaker help me with the
graphics.”
Even though
Mike was at first
turned down by
Apple, he eventually succeeded in
getting the app
onto the App
Store. Although
the process was
long, the end result
impressed students
and teachers alike.
“The four people here from Australia about two
weeks ago came,
along with the lady
from Apple here
in Austin,” Vinson
said. “They were
curious about how
we used our iPads, so Lisa Johnson brought
them in [the ASL room], and they wanted to
see the app. I told them the app was created
by Mike Bartmess and that he’s a senior. They
were very impressed, and the lady from Apple
was even impressed that Westlake could have
someone that could do that.”
Mike learned how to program through the

“It’s kind of like a
puzzle — you have
to start with nothing
but an idea, and you
have to figure out
which components
work together.”

—senior Mike Bartmess

computer science class at Westlake. The ASL
finger spelling app was Mike’s first large-scale
programming project, but it certainly will not
be his last.
“I’m thinking about making an app for our
robotics team,” Mike said. “It will be able to
help us scout other teams and help us with
the scoring. It will all depend on the challenge
at hand. [Programming the app] is the next
thing I’m looking forward to.”
This is Mike’s fourth year of taking the
computer science class at Westlake and he’s
planning to continue learning how to program
and work with technology.
“It’s kind of like a puzzle — you start with
nothing but an idea and you have to figure
out which components work together,” Mike
said. “You must figure out the best way to take
this concept and turn it into a detailed list of
instructions that a computer can understand.”
Mike said that his love for programming
began even before he had come to Westlake.
As soon as he saw the class was offered at
Westlake, he signed up for it.
“I’ve always wanted to go into computer
science or electrical engineering since I was
young,” Mike said. “As soon as I saw the class
as a course option back in eighth grade, I
jumped for it.
“Overall programming the app was really
fun, and it was a learning process the entire
way through,” Mike said. “I was happy to
make [the app] for Mrs. Vinson, and take on
the challenge of programming it.”
—David Tulkoff

Senior Mike Bartmess shows off
the app he created that helps ASL
students practice finger spelling.

Tim Whaling

STRIKING SUCCESS

photo manipulation and Aurasma by Tim Whaling

38

Bowler Will Austin practices his throw after
school at Westgate Lanes.

Bowler lives life in the fast lane
For many people, bowling a strike is rare.
A novice bowler is likely to send the ball into the
gutter. Bowling is labeled by many as a leisure
activity, and its competitive side is sometimes
overlooked. When junior Will Austin goes to the
alley, he isn’t just there to pass the time. He is
practicing or competing.
Since the age of 8, Will has been focused on
the sport. He began at a birthday party eight years
ago. He set a goal: to get that perfect score.
“Many people consider bowling an easy sport,”
Will said. “They think you simply throw the ball
down the lane and let it do all the magic and
hopefully you get a strike. [Bowling is a] mental
sweatshop. This aspect of the game has to be one
of my favorites.”
Will has strong opinions regarding the accuracy of Wii bowling.
“Funny you asked,” he said. “This is actually
the most asked question of me when I mention
that I bowl. That being said, please exclude me
from any Wii tournaments — I will get dead last.
Wii bowling is nothing like real bowling at all. In
fact, I’ve never bowled above a 100 on the Wii.
That’s how unrealistic it is . . . or maybe I’m just
bad? Wii bowling does not calculate in the factors
such as ball core shape, ball weight, weather, etc.
In fact, all you have to do is fling the ball down the
lane and you’ll get a strike. It is near impossible
to throw a hook on the Wii — it’ll just dance right
into the gutter.”
The overall science and knowledge of bowling
is unknown to many. There are so many factors
to consider to get a strike, such as lane conditions, the type of ball used, hand position, even oil
patterns. A key aspect of bowling is being able to
“read the pattern” and how the ball reacts on that
specific pattern.
“There are a multitude of oil patterns which
vary in how the oil is laid down.” Will said. “Every
tournament has a different oil pattern to play on.”

trends + traditions westlakefeatherduster.com

Will is an expert spare shooter. Two throws
are allowed in bowling and spares are made when
only a partial number of pins are knocked over on
the first throw and you knock the remainder on
the second throw.
“Practice is key,” he said. “Spare-shooting is
what makes or breaks your game in bowling and
during practice I focus on shooting the hardest
spares because it really pays off in the long run.”
Will practices three days week plus league
play on Saturday mornings. He belongs to an
All-Star travel team and competes in various local
and state tournaments, including the Texas State
Championship, Austin City Tournament and
the Wes Mallot’s Tournament. Top finishers are
awarded scholarship money.
“I am highly interested in Purdue University
because it offers a great pre-medical program
along with, of course, an excellent mens bowling
team,” Will said.
Will said that by the end of senior year he will
be at a collegiate level bowling skill, and with a
clean 250 bowling average, and a personal best of
298 (300 is a perfect score), he seems to be well
on his way to achieving his goal.
Along with practice, Will spends time bowling
with his family.
“One of the funniest things about my family is
when we go to the bowling alley for fun,” he said.
“We all bowl on one lane while I bowl a second
series of games on the lane next to it at the same
time. We play quite differently than most families
would. Considering I bowl competitively, they add
up their two best scores out of the three of them
(Dad, mom, brother) and hope to beat my score.”
As of right now, Will only plans to bowl in a
collegiate environment, and said he most likely
will not attempt to go pro.
“I will definitely continue on bowling for the
rest of my life,” he said. “That’s for sure.”
—Micah Williams

Senior finds voice with Vine videos

Six seconds
of fame

Senior Cathlyn Jones smiles
for the camera in preparation for a Vine.
Zhouie Martinez

As I sat down for a conversation with
Vinelebrity, Vine star and Internet sensation senior Cathlyn Jones, we both just
started laughing.
“This must be a joke, right?” Cathlyn
said of our formal meeting.
Because when Cathlyn first discovered
Vine by making videos of us two goofing
off belting, “Big Girl, You are Beautiful,”
nobody suspected this kind of audience.
Cathlyn had no followers, no friends on
Vine, no likes — but what she did have was
a sensational sense of humor, wide range
of character voices and capacity for creativity that has resulted in instant fame. From
animating her cats alone in her room, to
her “outfit of the day” videos featuring
Crocs and camo pants, her humor is eloquently displayed, clean, marketable and
incredibly hilarious.
“I absolutely did not see it taking off
like this,” Cathlyn said. “When I first had
Vine we were all doing karaoke and I was
making these ridiculous videos and nobody
knew what I was doing. I was just like ‘oh
it’s just this cool video app.’”
The application, which allows users
to post six-second clips filmed in intervals from a smartphone, has proved to be
Cathlyn’s avenue to success. The videos of
her and her sisters using unique voices and
making faces spread rapidly throughout
the online world, gaining enough “likes”
to put her on the popular page. Once the
videos hit the popular page, her following
increased drastically. Just months into
making videos, people around the area
started approaching her in public.
“I realized that my Vines were getting
really big when I went to Hill Country and
kids were coming up to me,” Cathlyn said.
“I was just kind of dumbfounded because
the whole thing to me is super silly. It’s just
me goofing off online.”
Whether the video features her English
bulldog, Bogart, or her sisters dancing
around to “In the Jungle,” it gains anywhere from 1,500-6,000 likes per post.
“The ideas for the videos just come into

my head,” Cathlyn said. “My head is just
very weird.”
While many of her Vines were thought
through and planned beforehand, her personal favorites are impromptu ones.
“Probably my favorite is the one where
my mom throws a sweet potato at my face
because it was so candid,” Cathlyn said.
With enough followers to fill up two
Dallas Cowboy Stadiums, encounters with
strangers are inevitable, often becoming
overwhelming.
“I was coming back from a Taylor
Swift concert with my friends and I got a
notification on my Vine from a follower,”
Cathlyn said. “He had posted a video of me
in my car driving back from Dallas because
he recognized it from the cheerleading decal on the back of my mom’s car.”
Cathlyn’s immediate success on Vine
is apparent to anyone who clicks on her
bio. Comments from fans not only appear
on her videos, but swarm her inboxes on
Twitter, Facebook and email. However,
continuing to make her humor accessible
to her community and the people she sees
every day is not an easy decision.
“When people started following —
especially people I don’t know and am not
comfortable around — I contemplated deleting it. I was just like ‘oh my gosh, this is
so weird; they’re gonna think I’m so goofy
and different and manly because I have
such a deep voice,’” Cathlyn said. “But I
just got over it and was like, ‘you know
what, those who mind don’t matter.’”
The decision to continue making videos
has resulted in opportunities. Her videos
have been noticed by companies looking
for advertising. On a trip to New York this
fall, she visited with several firms and had
the chance to meet comedian and Vine
star, Jerome Jarre.
“I’ve been approached by a bunch of
people in advertising and PR, and they said
to keep on continuing to make my own
brand and get my own name out there,”
Cathlyn said.
This new discovery of her own poten-

tial in the media world has redirected her
collegiate plans and future. Cathlyn will
attend Baylor next fall and plans to major
in Film and Digital Media. This would take
her various directions where her creative
skill of marketing toward a specific group
of followers is highly beneficial.
“If Vine ever declines in popularity, my
biggest dream is to be on SNL or go into
voice animation and be the voice behind a
cartoon,” Cathlyn said. “Just anything that
I can be goofy and be myself in.”
Her status as a Vine personality has
resulted in a population of children looking up to her. Cathlyn has embraced the
opportunity to serve as a role model to the
many young girls who religiously watch
her videos by keeping them PG.
“I have a lot of elementary and middle
school kids and then a lot of parents who
like to watch my Vines because of their
kids,” Cathlyn said. “Because I have so
many people watching my every move, I
definitely have to watch what I post and
my actions outside of Vine.”
Cathlyn’s confidence is seen through
her videos and inspires her followers and
classmates alike.
“Her Vines display her personality
perfectly,” senior Lee Ashlee Fletcher said.
“She is not afraid to be herself and it’s so
cool how contagious her self confidence is.
I love how she’s the same Cathlyn in Vines
and in person.”
Not only is her influence on the community substantial, but this window of opportunity has allowed room for self-growth
as she puts her videos out for the world to
see. With so many eyes observing her, she
has found that the feedback from her fans
is invaluable.
“It’s definitely been a good thing for
me because I’m so comfortable in my own
skin,” Cathlyn said. “I’ve gotten messages
from followers saying ‘Cathlyn you’ve
changed my life. You’ve helped me accept
who I am and embrace it and show it off,’
and that’s been a really cool part.”
­—Elizabeth Emery

Through training, junior pursues career in aviation

Taking flight

40

It’s a cold night at the airport, with rain gently falling
on the metal-roofed hangar. In the distance, the muted roar of a
737 jet engine and the crisp hum of a propeller cut through the
humid air. Floating along is the smell of jet fuel, and in front of
me is a brand new multimillion dollar jet. There is nowhere in the
world I’d rather be.
Since I was a toddler I’ve had this unexplainable love of
airplanes. My dad and I would drive out to Pearson airport in Toronto to park under the approach end of the runway and, with the
convertible roof down, watch the planes land. My childhood was
full of airplanes — airplane models, airplane cartoons (namely Jay
Jay the Jet Plane) and any other kind of aviation you can think
of. I was surrounded by it. On my sixth birthday, I had my first
opportunity to take control of a plane. My dad bought a “discovery
flight” where I was able to co-pilot a Cessna 172 and explore the
basics of flying. Once I tasted flight, I knew that it was all I ever
wanted to do.
The process of actually becoming a pilot began my sophomore
year. I took an online course that detailed everything from maneuvering speeds to airworthiness documents. Meanwhile, I flew
each and every weekend. During each lesson I departed Austin
Bergstrom with my instructor Michael Ways, and headed out to
Lockhart or Taylor to practice landing patterns. To perfect a pattern, you’re required to keep the airplane within strict speeds and
altitudes — 70 knots (kts) on downwind, 65 kts on base and on
final approach, you line up for landing. Maintaining these guidetrends + traditions westlakefeatherduster.com

lines requires minuscule movements of the flight controls — the
yoke, rudder and throttle. Adverse wind makes maintaining those
speeds far more difficult. After mastering the pattern and other
flight maneuvers after 26 hours of training, I was ready to fly solo.
The tires chirped after a perfect landing at Giddings airport.
It was March 25, my 16th birthday. “I think you’re ready” chimed
Michael. “Taxi to the side of the runway and let me out.”
This is it, my first solo. After dropping Michael by the side of
the runway, I taxi to the end and prepare for my very first takeoff
on my own. I firewall the throttle and the engine roars to life, the
airspeed hits 60 kts and I pull the controls toward me to lift off.
I capture best climb speed of 78 kts and soar up into the calm,
evening sky. As I turn downwind parallel to the runway, I make
my radio call to let other pilots in the area know my intentions.
“Skyhawk 123 victor kilo solo, left downwind 35.” The word solo
has a nice ring, I think to myself.
I continue my pattern for about five minutes and line back
up for the runway. With no wind, the plane goes exactly where
I tell it to, making speed and glide control easy. I pin the speed
at 60 kts all the way down to the numbers and begin my flare to
soften the landing. I hear a soft chirp, and then one more from the
wheels gently kissing the pavement, and I know that my first solo
has been a wild success. As I pick Michael up from the side of the
runway and blast off into the sunset one more time, I feel entirely
at peace because I know without a doubt, the sky is my home.
—Tim Whaling

Tim’s pro tips on planes

1
2
3
4
photos and Aurasma by Tim Whaling

“Push the throttle forward and the engine
roars to life as it reaches full power. As the
aircraft accelerates, the airspeed will increase
until it indicates 76 knots, flying speed. Pull
back hard on the controls and the airplane will
leap into the air to climb skyward.”

“Climbing at a high rate also has its consequences. As the angle of the wings increases
(called the ‘Angle of Attack’) the air stops flowing over the wing smoothly. As you push the
angle of attack further, the air no longer flows
over the wing. When this happens, the wing
ceases to create lift and the airplane stalls.
To recover, push the nose down and add full
power to gain airspeed and create lift.”
“Cruising between downtown Austin and
Lake Travis takes just five minutes at nearly
170 mph. Incredibly, in level cruise flight, the
Columbia (pictured) gets almost 15 miles to
the gallon. That might not sound great, but
while doing 15 mpg, it achieves a speed close
to 200 mph. At that speed, you can arrive in
Corpus Christi in just an hour.”

“Sightseeing over Lake Travis, you’ll follow the
numerous inlets and rivers that have almost
dried up. As you maneuver above the lake, you
can make a game of spotting the numerous
boat launches that have been beached along
the diminutive Pedernales River.”

rants + raves

Breakaway

Breakdown

211 W. North Loop, (512) 538-0174

Breakaway Records is a record shop that exemplifies
vinyl purism. You won’t find any CDs here, but you
certainly will dig up a few treasures. Breakaway has
all the vintage classic rock, soul, funk, jazz and blues
LPs you could reasonably ask for, as well as a few
essential recent pressings. Alas, their hip-hop collection is alarmingly sparse, and the indie rock offerings
are limited to an exclusive crop of impressive bands.
However, if you’ve acquired a voracious appetite for
singles, this place has you covered, with two expansive
shelves packed to the brim with affordably priced 45s.
Treat yourself to the stylings of Dave Brubeck or Aerosmith, and make your musically cynical father proud.

Vibes

R

Situated next to Blue Velvet Vintage and and EPOCH
Coffee, Breakaway feels very Brooklyn. Thankfully,
the service isn’t snobby. The employees are quietly
friendly and helpful, and early on a Saturday afternoon, even had their kids running around the shop.
The store is one open square room with widely spaced
aisles. It isn’t huge, but it holds a lot, with records
packed away in cabinets under the shelves.

Finds

&

R

When Austin record stores become the subject of
discussion, Waterloo Records is likely the first and only
place that comes to mind. While Waterloo does have a vast
selection, it is not the only record store within Austin city
limits — not by a long shot. We’ve compiled a brief list of
alternative record stores in Austin that we find suitable for
consumption and possibly subsequent favoritism.
—Katelyn Connolly and Jack Speer

The soundtrack to the 1986 film Tough Guys was
languishing in the “FREE!” box near the entrance. We
left it for another lucky soul, so if you’ve got a hankering to hear some Kenny Rogers and Janet Jackson, go
check out Breakaway.

r
tie

n
y
i
l
v
f
r
e
o
h
n
T

42

rants + raves westlakefeatherduster.com

photos by Nikki Humble

Sophomore Jack Speer browses the stacks at End of an Ear, searching for new muiscal discoveries.

Trailer Space has an expansive discount bin, a tattered
classic rock shelf, and a few miscellaneous CDs. Not
that you’d go here to buy CDs. It also has Ohio-based
garage-pop band Guided by Voices’ rare first EP, but
don’t buy it. We’ve called dibs.

2209 S. First Street, (512) 462-6008

Breakdown

Breakdown

Despite being somewhat out of the way, a trip to Trailer Space is worth it. Situated next door to East Side
Pies, which serves some of the best New York-style
pizza to be found in Austin, the door to the record
shop is left open for people — including the employees — to meander in and out. The low-key griminess
of the tiny store and the beauty of pizza-by-the-slice
served through a window make for a seriously chill
afternoon.

Finds

As you walk into Trailer Space, you will likely make a
few observations: it has arcade games, VHS tapes, old
furniture, a Nintendo Wii, an abnormally prominent
ambience of hominess and shelf upon shelf of punk
records. Walking around, you can pick up subversive
zines, cheap used CDs and flyers for the shows that
are hosted on the tiny stage in the corner. Trailer
Space doesn’t pretend to be a sanitized sanctuary in
which polished, hi-fi, inoffensive recordings may be
kept, but if it were, it would quickly lose its appeal.
You’ll walk away with dirt caked under your fingernails and the stench of tobacco lingering in your nose,
but you’ll walk away happy.

Vibes

1401-A Rosewood Avenue, (512) 524-1445

End of an Ear
End of an Ear is the kind of record store you can get
lost in for hours every time you enter. Despite its
relatively smaller size, it has basically every genre you
can imagine, including divisions of world music and
‘80s goth-pop. The employees are especially helpful
and always willing to give suggestions or just chat for
a while about ‘70s German experimental music. This
store has one of the biggest vinyl collections in Austin
as well as plenty of used CDs stuffed haphazardly into
plastic baskets. End of an Ear even houses a whole
wall of VHS tapes. This place is perfect. Seriously, go
there — now!

Vibes

Trailer Space

If you want the options of a huge record shop like
Waterloo’s but prefer a more unique environment,
End of an Ear is perfect for you. Located on South
First Street, in an eclectic and colorful neighborhood
full of taco stands and thrift stores, it is easy to drive
by the unassuming entrance. Once inside, a true treasure trove of tunes is unearthed. End of an Ear is a bit
cramped and can get crowded, but you really can feel
the love of music enveloping you.

Finds

The exterior of End of an Ear on South First Street radiates typical Austin cool.

Lady Gaga and Tyler, The Creator can be found right
next to Faust and literally every Flaming Lips recording ever made. Not to mention the admirable Al Green
collection. That’s diversity.

Nature:
a review

he truth is, after having lived on this planet for 16
years now, I’m not going to claim that I have everything figured
out, but I do have a few things to say about nature. If you are
deeply religious, I sincerely hope this does not offend you.
Let’s begin with a positive. I will say this, nature has spectacular graphics. Take a look outside. Have you seen the trees?
Look specifically at their branches. The 3-D rendering and lack of apparent
pixelation is really remarkable. You won’t see that in the background of any Forza
game.
Another great example of nature’s infallible knack for intricacy: matter. Everything’s made of atoms and stuff, yo. That’s crazy. Imagine being made of millions
of tiny Legos, except you can’t see these Legos with the naked eye, and it’s not just
you, everything else is also made of Legos. And these metaphorical Legos are atoms. Did you know that Legos are made of atoms as well? Or are they subatomic
particles? I’m confusing myself.
But nature is not without limitations. For example, you know those trees I
mentioned earlier? Well they provide oxygen, an essential component for a minor
hobby some may call “breathing.” As it so happens, we do not have enough space
for trees, and thusly we must adapt. Otherwise, where would we place our shopping malls and gas stations? Sometimes, regarding priorities, our best interest is
commercialism rather than a function as negligible as breathing. On that note,
there is another compromise between man and nature brought to light in recent
years that we should concern ourselves with, “an inconvenient truth,” if you will.
Carbon emissions from our cars and cattle are depleting the ozone layer and
causing Earth to be more vulnerable to the sun’s rays. Now, many would argue
that the post-industrial society we live in has inflicted this upon itself. However,
I’d like to point to one overlooked factor: nature is just unequipped to handle beings as advanced as those of our species. The characteristic nature of nature itself
in this era is that it is fragile. It’s time to face the facts: nature’s not as resilient
as we’d like it to be, and if this planet we were bestowed some 200,000 years ago
can’t accommodate us, then we’ll likely be moving to Europa — a moon of Jupiter
speculated to sustain life — in the not too distant future.
—Jack Speer

44

rants + raves westlakefeatherduster.com

Michaela Moss

Sardonic student takes
aim at the ‘great outdoors’

Don’t be
Senior reflects on her middle school
obsession with self-image, maintaining hair

stream

It’s safe to say that middle school was a rough time for
pretty much did, considering everything was the end of the world in
everyone. If you’re a freshman straight off the halls of Hill Country
middle school.) However, I wasn’t fast enough, because I exposed my
or West Ridge thinking — “This is so wrong, middle school was my
precious straight hair to the downpour just long enough for it to get
prime” — you’re wrong. Just give it a year or two, and you’ll be cringing completely drenched.
at every picture or old social media post from that magical time.
No.
One of the worst things about middle school is the perceived expec“Dad!” I shouted through the rain. “I can’t go to school today!”
tation of conformity. Everyone tries to do the same thing with his or
“Get in the car,” he said, unfazed by the clear distress radiating
her appearance because that’s the “cool” thing. Peer pressure is a milfrom my soaking wet body.
lion times more prevalent than it is in high school, because everyone is
When I got to school, my hair had already started to dry into its
so desperate to fit in.
true kinky embodiment. The frizz grew and grew. As I walked through
My middle school experience was no exception. Countless nights
the doorway, I knew everyone was going to stare in awe at my changed
were spent trying to tame the frizzy mess that is my hair, because in
appearance. I kept thinking of ways I could get out of school. Pretend
my day, straight hair and
I was sick and go to
bangs brought you one
the nurse? Pull the
step closer to the inner
fire alarm perhaps?
circle.
Maybe I could stage a
For those of you who
crime scene outside the
are unfamiliar with it,
front of the school and
my mane of hair is no
everyone would have to
easy feat to harness. My
evacuate.
curls that seem to go on
All I really wanted to
for miles have a mind of
do was crawl in a corner
their own. Trying to put a
and cry.
brush through it is close
As the school day
to impossible, and even
progressed, not a single
when I can manage that,
person mentioned my
I end up looking like a
hair. My best friend said
less magical version of
something about it being
Hermione Granger.
pretty, but other than
Every night of my
that, not a word was
sixth and seventh grade
uttered concerning my
years, I would shower,
appearance.
blow dry my hair until it
How was this poswas a huge poofy ball of
sible? Did no one notice
Seniors Olivia Kight and G.R. Chiappe dance at a b’nai mitzvah in 7th grade circa 2009. “I blow dried and then straightened my
frizz on my head and then
that my hair changed
hair that night for about two hours,” Olivia said.
slave for a solid two hours
from its typical smooth
with a flat iron to make
and silky demeanor into
courtesy photo an Oprah Winfrey afro?
it as straight as possible.
This routine would start around 8 p.m., and I would end up getting to
I almost felt offended. Hello? Why does no one pay attention to my
bed around midnight. A 13-year-old girl spending four hours on her
appearance?
hair on a nightly basis simply to impress her peers? That’s just sad.
Here’s the thing, ladies and gentlemen — no one cares. No one
I dreaded anyone seeing my natural hair. The hidden curliness
cares whether your hair is curly or straight. No one cares if your shorts
under all of the heat damage and hair product was my little secret. I
are from 2008 or 2013. No one will notice if you forgot to wear eyeliner
thought that if anyone knew my true hair style, I would be completely
today, or if you have a zit on your forehead.
shunned from the elite inner circle that my middle school self so
Humans are programmed to think they’re the center of the unilonged to join.
verse. It’s the evolutionary instinct of looking out for oneself. If your
One particularly rainy day in April, I slept in a little too late. I
friends are judging you for not doing your hair every day or not having
rushed through putting on my clothes and make-up and shoved a
name-brand shoes, are they really worth spending countless amounts
breakfast bar down my throat.
of time trying to impress? Over my time in middle school and beyond,
“Bye, Mom!” I shouted as I stepped out the door, right into the
I’ve learned to embrace my frizzy hair. Instead of worrying about little
pouring rain.
things, like whether your jeans fit perfectly or if your shoes are straight
Oh no.
off of Pinterest, try focusing on having fun and making real friends that
My hair.
will (brace yourself) like you for who you are.
I sprinted to my dad’s car like my life depended on it (which it
—Olivia Kight

It is time we were honest with ourselves — the Ninth
Grade Center cafeteria has drastically better food than the Chap
Court. It isn’t even close. The NGC has a smorgasbord of different options, from mac-and-cheese to ravioli, from sweet
and sour chicken to massive burritos the size of a small child.
Meanwhile, every single day, just across the school, the Chap
Court has pizza. Sure, there are a few other options, like the
wonderful, twice-weekly Chick-fil-A sandwiches, but day in
and day out, the main course is pizza.
Some resolute upperclassmen make the trek down to
the NGC to eat, but most sophomores, juniors and seniors
that don’t bring their lunch end up scavenging together a
“nutritiously-balanced meal” from baked potatoes and Rice
Krispie Treats. Aside from a decent but hidden salad bar
and one measly basket of a few bruised apples and oranges,
there isn’t much in terms of fruits and vegetables. Unless you
count the tomato sauce on pizza as a vegetable serving, which
you absolutely should not. If you’re vegetarian, vegan, lactose
intolerant or gluten intolerant, your options start getting
pretty thin.
That being said, the NGC isn’t really fighting fair. It has
dedicated ovens and cooking appliances, where all of the food
for both cafeterias is cooked. The food for the Chap Court is
then ferried up to the main campus and dropped off into heaters
that keep the rations warm until fourth and fifth periods.
The lines themselves are reason enough for most students to avoid the Chap Court. Due to some gruesome
design flaws that resulted in the Chap Court being less
of a cafeteria line and more of a few cafeteria alcoves,
students are forced to wait in packs, yearning for their
chance to shovel whatever scraps remain onto their
trays.
What’s happening, Westlake? How is the Chap
Court not better? We live in Austin. We’ve been
spoiled by countless amazing restaurants in close
proximity and organic, healthy food that is actually
good. The success of the new “healthy vending machines” show a pattern. Students are looking for a
little variety, and they aren’t as opposed to eating
something healthy as you would think.
We know cafeteria food is never going to
be fantastic. After all, just two years ago, we
had the infamous re-pizza scandal which has
since been resolved. We’re not asking for a lot.
But the Chap Court is levels below the NGC
cafeteria and it’s not a hard problem to fix.
Maybe we should bring in some local food
trucks to provide some healthier options,
or maybe we should let juniors start going
out to lunch with seniors to stop the lines
from extending on forever. Regardless,
next time some money comes up to get
another Jumbotron or iPad 3s, maybe
we should just invest in a couple of
ovens for the Chap Court.
Art by Ariana Gomez Reyes

WE’VE GOT
Divergent is full of despicable
lies, danger and slightly forbidden love.
In this futuristic world, author Veronica Roth portrays a society in which
the government is always watching and
controlling citizens. The book starts on
the day protagonist Beatrice Prior has
to make the most important decision
of her life. In her world, all people take
a test on their 16th birthday. The test
simulates various scenarios and judges
the reaction of the test taker in order to
help them choose which of five paths
they will take in life: Dauntless, Abnegation, Erudite, Candor or Amity. The
complexity of the characters allows for
the reader to make his own decisions
about Beatrice (Tris, as she is later
named) and the supporting individuals. Through how characters react to
being different or seeing differences
in other people, the book shows that
“different” is widely accepted as a bad
thing, but that it shouldn’t be. Divergent is a fascinating story and reminds
the reader that you can’t put a human
being into a box and tell them who
they are going to be.
—Sage Sutton

IF YOU LIKE The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, The Mortal Instruments
by Cassandra Clare

48

rants + raves westlakefeatherduster.com

“Pepper is the surprised inmate
of a mental institution in Queens, New
York. In the darkness of his room, on
the first night, a terrifying creature
with the body of an old man and the
head of a bison nearly kills him before
being hustled away by the hospital
staff.” If that back cover description
doesn’t intrigue you, I don’t know what
will. A murderous old man with a bison
head? What’s not to love? Bizarre and
terrifying, The Devil in Silver masterfully intertwines staunch horror with
modern-day criticism of the flaws in
our mental institutions. Not only is it a
nail-biter of a book, it truly is a portal
into today’s psych wards and the cruel
treatment of the mentally impaired.
Never ceasing to lure you in, The Devil
in Silver deserves a spot on your horror shelf, whether you are a veteran
thrill-seeker or a horror noob. Just
don’t show the cover to your mom.
Moms don’t like bloody bison heads.
—Jack Wallace

IF YOU LIKE Doctor Sleep by Stephen
King, The Psychopath Test by Jon
Ronson

This critically acclaimed novel
by Pulitzer Prize winning novelist
Edith Wharton chronicles the lives of
Nick Lansing and Susy Branch after
they make a shrewd deal to marry and
spend a year mooching off of their
affluent friends. Their bargain is that
if either of them meets someone who
could advance them socially, they
will dissolve the marriage. However,
neither of them expects their relationship to change them so drastically that
they begin to crave a life outside of
the petty, superficial universe of the
outrageously wealthy. Neither of them
expects to fall in love. The ending is
entirely predictable, but the journey
makes it sweet. Wharton uses Nick
and Susy as a lens through which she
describes the ostentation of the filthy
rich. Her philosophical view on society
is truly enlightening. When it comes
down to it, this romance/social commentary really isn’t about Nick and
Susy sponging off their acquaintances.
It’s about a couple who begin to understand the meaning of true love.
—Ananya Zachariah

IF YOU LIKE The Great Gatsby by F.
Scott Fitzgerald, Mrs. Dalloway by
Virginia Woolf

IT COVERED
To properly assess the popularity
of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes,
a collection of short stories featuring
detective Sherlock Holmes and cohort
Dr. Watson in 19th century Britain,
one must simply observe the extraordinary components that constitute such
an enduring franchise. The memorable
depictions of the classic metropolis of
London definitely hook the reader. The
voice of Dr. Watson certainly provides
a stately interpretation of the peculiar
cases given to him and his accomplice.
Then there are the cases themselves,
each offering a variety of mysteries for
the greatest fictional crime detective
in history — Sherlock Holmes. Any
observer could clearly deduce that the
series’ longevity is due to the protagonist’s cold arrogance, paired with his
undying curiosity and remarkable
intelligence, along with just a sprinkle
of late 19th century mannerisms. All
this creates a remarkably entertaining
book that leaves any contemporary fan
of Sherlock Holmes simply amiss for
not reading the original classic.
—Michael Wiggin

IF YOU LIKE The Da Vinci Code by Dan
Brown, Miss Marple: The Complete
Short Stories by Agatha Christie

To call Let’s Pretend This Never
Happened “funny” is to do the book a
disservice. It’s a bouncy ride in an old
Jeep with no seat belts on a dirt road.
It’s every dream you’ve ever had that
you woke up from thinking, “Well that
was odd.” From taxidermic misadventures to arguments over whether Jesus
was a zombie, acclaimed blogger and
journalist Jenny Lawson’s bestselling
account of her preposterous life will
never cease to surprise and delight
you. Witty, raw, honest and touching
in unexpected ways, Lawson’s book
is more than just comedic. Her frank
speech and ability to look back upon
her struggles with humor offer a refreshing perspective — one of honesty,
laughter and acceptance of ourselves
and our world. In her words, “pretending to be normal is draining and
requires amazing amounts of energy
and Xanax.”
—Georgina Kuhlmann

IF YOU LIKE Bossypants by Tina Fey,
Seriously ... I’m Kidding by Ellen Degeneres

Khaled Hosseini, best-selling
author of internationally recognized
books The Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns, has brought forth
another piece of literary art. Released
on May 21, 2013, And the Mountains
Echoed is one of the most heartwrenching yet beautiful stories of this
century. Hosseini tells the tragic story
of how one man’s decision can shape
the lives of people all over the world.
The story starts in a small village in the
early 1900s Afghanistan with Abdullah
and Pari, two devoted siblings who are
tragically separated. Hosseini takes the
reader all over the world with his vivid
and beautiful imagery so that the reader can almost see the majestic mountains of Afghanistan and the serene
waves of the Aegean Sea in Greece.
Although the numerous storylines can
sometimes be hard to follow, the more
the reader gets into the book, the more
clear the story becomes. The book provides relatable characters, tear-jerking
moments and beautiful imagery that
make it an absolute page-turner, and
overall, a must-read.
—Sarah Tucker

IF YOU LIKE Inferno by Dan Brown, The
Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg
Larsson

Just dance
As Corbin Bleu so eloquently
aspect that worried me — it was the
vocalized in High School Musical 2,
dancing. How could I be expected
I don’t dance. And yes, I’ve been to
to shake my hips and not make a
my fair share of Bar Mitzvah parfool of myself? And then there was
ties. Somehow I never saw the value the nagging fear about my hands
in gyrating in front of strobe lights
— where are they supposed to go?
until I was drenched in sweat with
These questions lingered in my
all of my prepubescent friends from
head throughout the school day
the Jewish Community Center,
leading up to my 6 p.m. class, and
while a comically peppy amateur
before I knew it I was pulling up to
DJ screamed into a mic, “Alright
the studio, almost shaking in anticiguys, let’s get out here and make
pation of getting them answered.
some noise!” I spent most of my
When I reached the front desk,
time at those parties loading up
I was informed that the 6 p.m.
on nasty kosher mini sliders and
class was specifically a Zumba tonpretending I was part of the adult
ing class, which meant that light
crowd, watching my peers excitedly
weights would be used and that
stumble through the Cupid Shuffle
the focus of the class would be less
on the rented dance floor from
about dance and more about trimafar. If someone asked me to join
ming down. This came as somewhat
in, I was always “recovering from
of a relief, although I wanted to be
an ankle
sure I was
sprain” or “The true enjoyment of Zumba, getting the
“feeling
full Zumba
or any form of dance I’m sure, experience,
kind of
queasy.”
not copping
But in is found in letting it all go and
out by doing
reality,
feeling your movements rather a variation.
I was a
“I know
than thinking about them.”
timid
it’s different,
child
there’s
—senior Andy Brown but
hiding
still dancbehind
ing involved,
a barely-adolescent exterior of
right?” I asked the woman at the
confidence, quivering in fear at the
front desk. She laughed hysterically.
thought of what on Earth I would
I got the sense I was one of the few
do with my hands if I started dancteenage male customers she’d ever
ing. I felt like I’d look like one of
dealt with at this studio.
those tubelike people who blow
“Oh yes, there’s still plenty of
around outside of car dealerships;
dancing. You’ll get your fair share,”
flimsy, extremely uncoordinated
she said. I nodded, accepting my
and totally at the mercy of my awkfate. When the clock inside the
wardly lanky body.
exercise room read “6:00,” I walked
Although those fears never truly
slowly in to meet what I was sure
subsided, the opportunities I had to
would be my embarrassing doom.
dance anywhere did. I was at peace
My instructor introduced herself
until the staff of The Featherduster
as Fanny and told all of us to pick
realized that it hadn’t sent me
up a pair of two to three pound
off on any trying-something-new
weights from the corner next to the
adventures in quite a while. So it
CD player where she was setting up
was with great trepidation that I
the soundtrack for the class. As my
signed myself up for a Zumba class
classmates and I meandered over
at Corazon Latino Dance Studio in
to the weights, I sized up my fellow
South Austin, which was ranked
dancers. I don’t know why this
the number one Zumba program in
shocked me, but I was by far the
town by Yelp. Only the best, right?
youngest in the room. Most of them
The first step was knowing what
were women in their 40s and 50s
I’d just bought with my $8 ticket
who, by the looks of it, had chosen
to hell: Zumba is a dance/fitness
this class specifically to tone up.
program that merges Latin AmeriThere was one other older guy in
can dance moves and basic cardio
the room, but I’d just watched him
exercises. But it wasn’t the fitness
stagger out of the 5 p.m. regular

50

rants + raves westlakefeatherduster.com

Novice cuts
loose at Zumba

Zumba class, so I wasn’t sure how
long he’d last. My worries were
somewhat pacified because I knew
I wouldn’t
be the
absolute
worst, but
then I realized
that we were
going to be
working out
in front of a
huge mirror.
Before I
could position myself
behind somebody and get
out of the proverbial limelight, Fanny stepped up on
a small stage at the
front and greeted
us all, “Buenos
tardes! Who’s
ready to burn
3,000 calories in
an hour?”
“We are,” the
women around
me said, with
as much enthusiasm as that of
inmates whose life
sentences have just
been reduced to 84
years. That threw me
off a bit. From what
I’d heard, Zumba was
supposed to be an
exercise party, not
an hour-long rite
of passage to getting in shape.
But before I had
time to ponder
what I was supposed to be experiencing, Fanny pressed play and
immediately started our warm-up
by Samba dancing without weights
in front of the mirror.
The moves seemed simple
enough, but I had a great deal of
difficulty getting mine completely
in sync with Fanny. I was always a
half second behind her, which made
dancing to the beat of an odd mix
of a mariachi band and dubstep
nearly impossible. Even on
the rare occasion that I did get
my moves down in time, they
were odd looking and my
hips couldn’t quite lock into
Fanny’s “hips can’t lie” demonstra-

tions. My dancing was a collection
of stumbling awkwardness, and my
hands flopped around like drowning ducklings. I was embarrassed by
my own reflection, and I’m sure if it
could think, it would’ve been embarrassed to be mirroring me. I shuddered as we started sliding across
the room and thrusting our arms
violently. This was no different than
those Bar Mitzvahs. I was simply not
meant to dance.
After a 12-minute warm-up, we
picked up our weights. Although
my hands were finally occupied, the
dance moves became more aerobicsbased. It wasn’t a matter of moving
like everybody else anymore, it was
a matter of keeping up. The weights
began to feel heavier and my arms
lagged farther and farther behind
Fanny’s pace. And thanks to my
positioning in front of the mirror, everybody in the room had a front row
seat to my futility.
But then I looked in the mirror at
all my classmates. Fanny was kicking
well above her waist now, and shimmying back and forth in constant
fluid motion. Many of the women
(the other guy predictably didn’t
make it to the five-minute mark)
that surrounded me were having
difficulty just getting their feet off of
the ground. When Fanny shook her
hips, the women swayed slowly back
and forth, a few grimacing in pain.
Naturally, there were a few younger
women who looked like they could
probably be teaching the class, but
I was nowhere near the bottom of
the dancing talent totem pole. The
thought crossed my mind that my
approximate level of Zumba proficiency was probably what the older
women were aiming for. So I kicked
it into a higher gear, unsure whether
I had praised or insulted myself.
I started anticipating Fanny’s
moves, engaging my hips and focusing on making every move as clean
and smooth as possible. It made the
exercises harder, but I was thoroughly enjoying myself. I felt myself
allowing blaring electronic salsa
songs that I normally wouldn’t have
subjected myself to for more than a
handful of seconds to control my inner rhythm. I was getting exhausted,
but it felt soothing. I was no longer
embarrassed about where my hands
were going, or that my slight duck
feet prevented me from looking
normal when I bent my knees. The
weights were still difficult to sling
around, but they were only minor
distractions from what I was completely immersed in. It was just me,
the mirror and the music.
I was so caught up in the whirl-

wind of thrusting, twisting and
jumping that I neglected to look at
the clock. The music got softer and
we began to make deliberate, slow
stretching moves. I assumed this was
the cool down period right before
the end. I took a moment to come
down from my Zumba cloud and
examine myself in the mirror as we
stretched. I’d wiped my face a few
times throughout the hour, but I was
totally unaware of how drenched in
sweat I truly was.
The time finally came for the
class to end, and Fanny thanked
us and congratulated us for making it through the hour. Then she
approached me and told me I had
done really well for my first time. I
assumed all of the women were regulars — I couldn’t think of how else
she would have known it was my first
time based on my proficiency. Then I
remembered my initial struggles, although they seemed like the distant
past. I thanked her and went on my
way, the pain in my thighs increasing
with every step I took.
Was I sore the next day? You bet
I was. But it was a fulfilling soreness. I’d faced my fears of looking
ridiculous by doing exactly that, and
I’d loved it. Following the pattern of
a problem that has plagued me my
whole life, I’d thought too much —
would my hands feel normal, would I
embarrass myself, would I be able to
keep up, would I regret doing it; all
of these worries were unnecessary.
The true enjoyment of Zumba, or
any form of dance I’m sure, is found
in letting it all go and feeling your
movements rather than thinking
about them. That’s what kept me behind the beat at the start of the class.
Once I succumbed to the rhythm
Fanny was trying to instill in us all,
everything felt natural, even though
I’m sure it didn’t look that way.
Zumba taught me that sometimes
it’s OK to be mediocre, just as long
as you’re having fun. The world may
not be a completely judgment-free
zone, but by staying more focused
on enjoying yourself than on what
everybody else is thinking of you,
things you never saw yourself doing out of fear of humiliation can
become worthwhile. Sometimes
it’s alright to look like you’re a hip
surgery patient trying to pull off
Shakira’s moves. It’s alright to put
that greasy mini slider back into the
steaming silver container and jump
around on the dance floor like the
preteen you are.
It’s alright to say, “You know
what, Corbin? You may not dance,
but I do.”
—Andy Brown

Want to try Zumba?
Check out these businesses

• Austin Zumba

austinzumba.com ($10)

• Corazon Latino Dance Studio
corazonz.com ($8)

• FuzeMove Fitness
fuzemove.com ($6)

• Soul 2 Sole Dance Academy
soul2soleaustin.com ($8)

• The YMCA

austinymca.org/zumba ($5)

• The Pink Mat

thepinkmat.com ($5)

photos by Tim Whaling

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A common application

T

College applicant spins existential yarn, prays admissions directors savor it
Essay prompt: “Some students have a background or story that is so central to their identity that they believe their application would be
incomplete without it. If this sounds like you, then please share your story.”

The cool, zephyr-like gale blew gently on my face. I watched
as seemingly all I had ever known smoldered slowly to the ground. It
was like all my memories were wafting up to the atmosphere in the
form of fuming smoke. A single tear formed and swam down my face
as I watched my father take a blowtorch to my favorite chair — my
grandad's ol’ recliner.
It was a heavy-hearted day in my house when we found out that a
wasp colony had made a home inside the back of that old, ratty sack of
leather. My parents decided it wasn't worth keeping around, so my dad
took it out in the driveway and burned it at the stake, if you will.
I was 7 when the old man gave it to me. He was on his deathbed,
fragile, decrepit, dilapidated, decaying, rotting and deteriorating. He
said to me, croaking in his final breaths, "Andrew, I want you to have
the reclining chair I put out on the curb, and when you sit on it, I want
you to feel like I'm sitting there with you, telling you what a great
leader you are destined to become. Timshel."
I didn't know it at the time, but that conversation with my dying
grandfather would change my life forever. I remind him about it every
year at Thanksgiving and we share a hearty laugh.
As I made my way through school, I always found myself retreating
to the constant comfort of that chair for the stability that was so often
lacking in my life. Middle school track was a grind, and I often lay
awake at night, unsure of what lay ahead for me. I was the weakest link
in my 4x400 team, and I constantly had nightmares about the possibility of dropping the baton, or running in the outside lane, even after
both of those things had happened numerous times. But who could
blame me for making those mistakes? I'd just come back from a torn
ACL I sustained while playing football on a skateboard, and running
was my true passion. The coaches just couldn't see past the numbers
on their stopwatches. Whenever I found myself waking up at midnight
in a lukewarm sweat, I would go sit in that chair and all of my athletic
shortcomings would fade away, like translucent doves flying off in a
pitch black sky over a rocky ocean.
I was sitting in that chair when I decided to give back and go on a
mission trip the summer before freshman year to Southampton, New
York, a community tarnished by crime and a vast homeless population. I went with the intention of helping the underprivileged, but after
four weeks in that concrete jungle with those incredible, courageous
children, I was touched. They had truly helped me find myself, ironic
as that might be. As I sat on the plane headed home, watching the

Ariana Gomez Reyes

Hamptons disappear behind the curvature of the earth, I wept — not
because I missed the kids, but because I missed the amount of good
I'd done for the human race that I had to leave behind. But when I got
home, my chair was waiting for me as if I'd never left.
Sitting in the chair, I could still hear my grandfather's promise that
I would become a great leader, his final blessing. So as I struggled, yet
excelled through high school, I decided to step up and become a leader
not only within the walls of my school, but also within the confines of
my community. That's why I ran for the vice-librarian position of the
Nickelback Tribute Band Appreciation Club, a position I have held
since the onset of sophomore year. It was a difficult election, and I lost
a couple friends in the campaign process, but once I had won and was
standing up there in front of everybody who respected me and had
given me the opportunity, I knew I belonged. And to think, I never
would've even considered running for office without my grandad's
guidance.
So as I watched my father sadistically burn that chair, my rock, to
the ground, I wept some more. Big, blue tears. But, in the end, I knew
I still had my 5 on the Computer Science 1 AP and a berth in the top 10
percent to fall back on. Even though I can't sit back and relax on top
of those numbers, I couldn't be more proud of myself for overcoming
so much adversity to reach my senior year unscathed. (Or so I think,
HAHAHA). I looked up at the stars and drowned out my father's maniacal cackling. I saw my grandad in the form of a constellation, and he
winked and smiled at me. And in that moment I just knew, chair or no
chair, that everything was going to be OK from then on.
—Andy Brown

Tits really enjoys the philosophy of Plato. She likes to consider herself a mystic.

If your cat was a dog, would she be Lassie, Scooby or Snoop Dogg?
None of the above. She’s Scrappy Doo.

Favorite human food?

SCOUT

WITH HUMAN

LANDON

WHITE

M&M’s. She knocks them to the floor for my dogs. She wants them dead.

Favorite ride at Disney World?
The Hall of Presidents.

Hours spent sleeping per day?

Three hours — she’s very adventurous.

Compare your cat’s meow to the voice of a famous singer.
Fiona Apple — it sounds like hazelnut coffee.

If your cat was a Westlake teacher, who would she be?
Dawn Delgado.

54

rants + raves westlakefeatherduster.com

­—Katelyn Connolly

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Forget choirs of children. Forget professional church groups and gospel singers. Forget the classic crooning of Karen Carpenter and Elvis
Presley. There’s nothing quite like having your ears bombarded with
cheery, sappy Christmas tunes courtesy of the king of modern vanilla
jazz: Michael Bublé. Remember back in the day when the most popular
version of “White Christmas” was Bing Crosby’s original?
Well, those were sad, sorry times. This latter-day Sinatra
has taken over more than just the holiday iTunes chart —
did anyone happen to see him handing out free pieces of
soft-rock wisdom on the last cycle of The X Factor? That’s
right, his influence extends as far as a six-minute guest
appearance on the third-highest-ranked mom TV show of
the winter. There might be an artist out there somewhere
who can make us feel the gurgling, burbling, bubbling joy
in our hearts and stomachs that our Canadian prince Bublé
manages to inspire. We just haven’t met him yet.

CHAIN E-MAIL

***ATTENTION: YOU WILL DIE IF YOU STOP READING THIS SO FOR THE LOVE OF GOD KEEP READING*** There once was a girl named Susie. Susie was your
average, happy girl. She loved playing with her friends and
her lovely dog, Sparky. But Susie’s house was built upon
an ancient Indian burial ground, thus causing a bunch of
spooky stuff to happen. Her dolls became possessed by
her spooky ancestors and killed her. Brutally. Suuuuuper
spooky. Her body was never found, as it was carefully hidden in her pink dollhouse. Now she hides in closets waiting to murder non-believers of her story. Like yoooooooouuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu! But you can save
yourself if you send this letter to 378.2
people. If you send half of the amount then
Susie will show up in your closet. If you
don’t send any, Susie will violate your
personal space. o_0
You have one minute.

PDA

Public display of affection? More like please don’t act ... gross. Walking
through the hallways, far too many kids hang onto each other like leeches
and swap spit as if they’ll never see each other again. This is school. We
don’t care if your significant other is the apple of your eye, the pea to your
pod or the peanut butter to your jelly. There’s a time and place for everything. Passing periods are not the time and school hallways are definitely
not the place. We’ve never heard anybody say “Ooh, did you see those two
making out in the Commons? That was so awesome!” We promise that no
matter how hard the wait must be for you, the last bell of the day will always ring, dismissing everybody from class and allowing you access to the
man/woman of your dreams without the restraints
of somewhat important things like, oh, we don’t
know, social conventions and common decency.
(However, this is not an invitation to take your
intimacy talents to the parking lot.) So please, for
the greater good, wait until after 4:05 to express
your insatiable lust towards your better half.

SPEED BUMPS

ela Mo
ss

MICHAEL BUBLÉ

L I K E

Micha

S T UF F
WE

An exhilarating journey over that beautiful yellow mound
is exactly what you need as you creep through crowded
parking lots. The ride over the bump starts off smoothly,
as the front wheels begin to roll over. But no need to
worry, you’re just getting started. Your heart starts beating
fast in anticipation of what is to come. The wheels now
rest on the top of the speed bump, and the fun is about to
begin. Your car races down the treacherous speed bump.
Screams of joy erupt from those lucky back-seat riders as
their heads jam into the roof of the car. Seat belts lock to
prevent the passengers from flying through the air. What
fun. And the best part is, once your front wheels have
safely crossed this much awaited bump, your back wheels
get a turn to face the adventure. What
more could one possibly want in life
other than the opportunity to ride this
widely known coaster every time they
enter a parking lot?